


Reversal

by BlueTeamSucks, Metrowolf



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Project Freelancer, reverse au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-10
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-02-24 19:36:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 44,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2593772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueTeamSucks/pseuds/BlueTeamSucks, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metrowolf/pseuds/Metrowolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reverse: re·verse, adjective, \ri-ˈvərs\, Opposite to what is usual or stated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Number One

Smoke drifted up around Theta, giving him the cover that he needed to carefully watch Kappa through his scope as she crept along a nearby gray wall. She easily knocked a guard off of the walkway and they both stared after him as he plunged into the icy cold water.

The two of them had been assigned to retrieve some information from a big oil platform. They had been dropped off in the middle of the ocean with instructions to keep quiet and be fast. "Fast" to command meant less than a day. They had been waiting for five hours to find the perfect window.

Theta's toes had gone numb long ago. He had shut off his armor's heating systems to avoid being spotted on someone's thermal, but he was starting to wonder if it was worth it. The air was freezing. Theta could somehow feel it on his skin, even through his purple and pink armor.

Kappa snuck past a couple of tired, complaining guards. She easily got up behind them without either of the two noticing. With one swift movement, they were plummeting off of the edge. Kappa watched, her gloved hands gripping the short railing.

An alert came through on Theta's HUD, catching his attention. "You really should set your trackers," Theta suggested quietly. He didn't want to accidentally alert the two guards that stood near his hiding place. He had sneezed earlier and they spent half an hour looking around for the source of the noise.

The sound of Kappa grinding her teeth in frustration came through on the radio. "You should've told me that while we were just sitting there for five hours, Theta."

"Sorry. I didn't know that yours weren't on. My HUD doesn't tell me that information unless enemy activity starts to picks up and someone's are off," Theta explained, a little nervously. He always got anxious when he had to instruct agents that were more experienced than him. Even with people that he was closer to, like Kappa and Delta.

Kappa sighed, the sound causing a sudden rush of static in Theta's ears. "It takes way too long to set them up, Theta. They aren't that important, I'll be fine without them."

"But the smoke is messing with my thermals and the package is inside! I won't be able to help you unless you set your trackers," Theta sounded unsure of himself, like he didn't know what he was doing. In reality, that wasn't true. He had been in this position many times, sitting, watching, and waiting.

Unfortunately for both of them, Kappa ignored his advice. She usually listened, but right now seemed to be an exception. She had been getting more and more intense on missions lately. Every move she made had been deliberate. Kappa ran along a slightly sloped, metal roof and jumped off, landing on an unlucky soldier. She snatched his shotgun from the air as it flew up. "I'll be fine on my own, Theta. Keep an eye on the time."

Theta would've protested, but a patrol walked right under his hiding spot in the smoke stack. He was forced to keep his mouth shut and watch as Kappa ran into a closed off section. The walls were too thick for any of Theta's equipment to get any readings from inside.

Once the patrol was out of earshot, he frantically whispered, "Kappa, I can't see anything in there!"

"Just trust me, Theta. I can do this on my own." Her radio switched off and Theta resisted the urge to curse. Kappa could be unnecessarily stubborn, sometimes at her own risk.

There were a few moments of anxious silence for Theta. Then, Kappa came back on the radio. "Alright, I've started the transfer. It should only take a few seconds." At least she had called to tell him what she was doing.

Theta sighed quietly in relief. He glanced nervously at the blinking notification on his HUD. "Now can you please set your-" He was distracted mid sentence by two red dots showing up on one of Theta's scanners. "Kappa, I'm getting something on thermal. There might be something behind you, check your six!"

Inside the terminal, Kappa whirled around and had a knife in her hand before the soldier standing there could even blink. He held two steaming mugs of coffee in his hands and had stopped dead in his tracks. Kappa glared at him through her brown helmet as he nervously glanced at the nearby alarm button.

"Don't even think about it," Kappa warned.

She watched as Coffee Man looked between her and the big, red button hesitantly. She knew that he was deciding between his life and his job. The moment he made a move for it, she hurled her knife at him. It stuck in his chest, killing him instantly. But, according to Newton's laws of motion, his body still fell towards the button.

"Watch out, Theta. It's about to get loud," Kappa warned her partner apologetically. She grabbed the data file from the nearby machine, wincing in regret as Coffee Man slammed against the button. Alarms blared and lights flashed. She rushed out of the terminal, grabbing her knife from his body as she passed with little resistance.

Theta jumped at the sudden noise and felt his heart leap into his throat when he realized that there would be fighting soon. Theta got up from his position, feeling a little stiff. "Can you meet me at the helipad?" He asked Kappa over the radio, not bothering to be quiet anymore.

"I'll be right there," Kappa's tense voice answered in Theta's helmet.

Theta hooked his sniper rifle to the back of his armor and then dropped to the ground, right behind a pair of guards. Theta cracked their heads together, cartoon style, efficiently knocking them out. They slumped to the ground, their bodies leaning back against each other.

He rushed down the walkway, knocking a couple of soldiers into the water as he ran. Theta could hear a few shots being fired from not too far off. He hoped that it was Kappa who was shooting and not any of the guards. Or if the guards were shooting, he hoped that they weren't hitting their mark.

He ran through the oil platform, occasionally shooting at guards with his rifle. Off in the distance, there was the sound of gunshots and armored bodies smacking against the ground. Theta hoped that Kappa was the one doing the damage. Theta caught sight of her running in his direction, along the same walkway. They switched spots, Theta jumped past her, shooting at the following of guards she had gathered. Which was quite a lot.

A guard tried to grab Theta and in return, he snatched the guard's gun and fired a row of shots up his body. The others stepped back for a split second, slightly terrified of the bloody mess the young Freelancer had caused. Theta whipped the now dead guard into another nearby one. The two of them crashed to the ground.

"I need a shotgun!" Kappa cried out from across the pathway.

Theta snatched one from a nearby dead body and tossed it to her. "Catch!"

"Thanks," Kappa said politely before she shot a soldier in the head. His helmet came clean off.

Across the ledge, there was a huge door with an overhang on top. Theta barely had time to think about the good hiding place before a sniper started to shoot at them. Theta ducked, then motioned for Kappa to take cover. They hid behind two tall pillars. Between them and the several gunmen that blocked their progress was a small bridge. It had no railings and no cover. Theta tried to get a clean shot, but he couldn't. "We need to switch! On my mark! Sync!"

Kappa rolled over to Theta's former spot and Theta took her place. He shot the only sniper and watched as he fell off of the platform.

"I'm moving!" Kappa grabbed the dead body of a nearby soldier, adjusting it to cover her body. She rushed forward, using it as a shield against the other guards.

"Go!" Theta yelled, firing off another shot. He followed shortly after her, ducking to avoid the spray of bullets. Everything was becoming automatic now. It was when he did this that scared Theta the most. The killing and running was like a second nature to him and Theta hated it.

They shot the remaining snipers off of the roof and Kappa set to work on the door that blocked them from the helipad. Theta quietly admired how calm that Kappa seemed as she forced the door open. She always was so cool and collected, while Theta felt like a nervous mess.

As he thought about his job, Theta held off the soldiers that rushed toward them, firing into the crowd. Even though he detested it, it was either kill or be kill. The doors finally slid open and the two of them ran through them, rushing into another crowd. Theta completely forgot about his worries and concentrated on getting them both out of there alive.

Kappa slid along the ground, firing more shots. They were both panting now, out of breath from the intense fighting. Theta followed behind Kappa, gulping at the amount of gathering guards. Using a machine gun that he had picked up, Theta showered an approaching group with bullets, knocking them to the ground. More still came.

"Move up!" Kappa ordered, running head first into the crowd, showing no fear. Theta groaned and followed after her, using a shotgun to clear out anyone in his way. The guards spread out around them, blocking off all exits.

The two of them came to a stop in the empty helipad, pointing their weapons nervously at the surrounding guards. They were completely encircled and everyone had something aimed at their heads. Kappa and Theta slowly lowered their guns.

"Uh oh," Theta whispered to Kappa.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire," Kappa muttered back.

A dark figure stood at a turret and called out to them. "Attention, assholes. Stand down, you're surrounded. Give us the data file now. You will be taken into custody. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. There is no escape, so give us the damn data file!"

He was interrupted by a soldier in black armor jumping into view and kicking down several guards. Theta stumbled backwards in surprise at the sudden appearance of the soldier. The newcomer punched the man at the turret away and took hold of the gun, aiming it at the ledge opposite to the one he was standing on. He fired at one of the support beams, sending the guards that were standing on top of it into the ocean. Theta and Kappa both ducked to avoid the bullets and shrapnel. The soldier repeated this with one of the other ledges.

"What's going on?" Kappa yelped as she straightened up.

Theta caught sight of the soldier and nearly gasped. "Oh, wow."

Kappa gripped at his arm. "What?"

Gesturing to the soldier, Theta said in awe, "It's him." It wasn't often that command would send in backup, especially such a high ranking backup.

Kappa sounded pretty unhappy when she saw who it was. "What? Why is he here?" Theta didn't blame her for being upset, he wasn't delighted either. This was supposed to be their job and they didn't need any help.

The black soldier kicked the still firing turret, sending it spinning in a circle, taking out several guards around him. He jumped off the platform, doing a flip in the air. As he moved, the black melted off of his armor and turned to white. He landed on the helipad easily. "Alright. It's my turn now, bitch."

Alpha rushed to the nearest guard and hit him as hard as he could. Theta and Kappa took this as a sign to join in and they all started to finish off the guards together.

As he kicked a guard away from himself, out of the corner of his eye, Theta could see the dark guard getting up to the turret again. It took Theta a second to realize the gun was aimed at Connie and her back was turned. His heart twisted and his stomach dropped. He needed to do something and fast.

Without much thought, Theta threw himself in front of her. "Connie, watch out!" He accidentally called out her real name in the process of pushing her away.

Connie was the Freelancer who had been the nicest to him when he had showed up as a scared seventeen year old. She had watched out for him and taught him everything that he needed to know. Theta would give his life for her and Kappa would give her life for him.

Bullets tore into his chest and Theta fell to the ground with a cry. Theta could feel the three bullet wounds each time he moved, even if it was only a centimeter. Every breath burned and his vision clouded.

"Theta? No!" Kappa cried. Theta could barely hear her over the sounds of gunfire and his own thumping heartbeat. There was a loud crash and the screams of guards as they plummeted to their deaths.

Kappa helped pull Theta up from the ground and dragged him over to the side of the platform. They could see down into the blankness of the ocean from where they stood. "I got you, Theta. Don't worry," Kappa tried to sound calm, but for once, her composure was breaking.

Theta supported himself on the railing as Kappa fired back into the overwhelming crowd. She turned on her radio as a last resort and frantically tried to call for help. "Come in, command! We need evacuation, Theta is wounded!"

Out of nowhere, Alpha showed up behind them. "Okay, come on you guys. We gotta go." Theta jumped, then tried to twist away from him as Alpha grabbed ahold of the back of his armor. A quick glance at his other hand showed that Kappa was stuck in his tight grip too. Theta only had a brief second to wonder what Alpha was doing. Then, he pulled them over the ledge with no warning.

Theta screamed helplessly at the sudden sensation of falling. He could faintly hear Kappa's screams and Alpha's audible smirk. The way the air rushed around him felt exactly like when he had fallen out of a swing when he was eight. Except this time, death was the result instead of a scraped knee. Theta barely had time to think about Alpha's insanity before his armored body smacked against something hard.

Squeezing his eyes shut while his mind raced, Theta wondered if he had died. It was a lot less painful than he had expected, only a couple things ached. The three bullet wounds in his chest were excluded from that list, they hurt like a-

"Sorry about our mess, guys. I'm sure you'll have fun cleaning it up."

Theta could barely hear Alpha's lighthearted voice over the sound of the wind in his ears. He could feel Kappa fighting to sit up next to him. So maybe he wasn't dead yet. Theta opened his eyes and was faced with the gray metal of a pelican and a warning from his HUD. He pushed himself up onto his knees and started to drag his body toward the closest entrance.

Alpha walked ahead, a hand to the side of his helmet. "Command, the package is good to go. Everybody's gettin' on board." He jumped down into the pelican, too distracted to help Kappa and Theta.

Kappa helped Theta climb down the ladder, struggling with his height. Even though he was years younger than her, Theta still towered over Kappa. Once they were inside the ship, Kappa helped Theta into one of the seats lining the walls. He managed to pull his own safety bar down and rested his head against the back of his seat as they to sped off.

Suddenly, there was explosion behind them. Theta jumped against the restraint and his head snapped toward the source of the noise. His already adrenaline wrecked body tensed up, ready to jump out of the ship if need be. The pelican rocked with the force of the blast. Theta's ears rang and Kappa stumbled backwards in surprise. Theta gripped the armrests of his seat tightly and ground his teeth together as he tried to relax.

Kappa sighed nervously and started to pace around the pelican, her armored feet clanking against the metal floor. Alpha answered a call from FILSS and exchanged some banter with 479er, his voice still light and teasing. Theta fought to keep his eyes open. He was getting pretty tired from this slightly overwhelming mission.

"Kappa, check out our six," Alpha suddenly ordered.

Seeming glad to have something to do, Kappa rushed to the back of the ship. She balanced on her tiptoes to stare out the small window. "It looks like there are two Insurrectionist ships following us. We might want to hurry up a bit more, they're gaining fast."

A flare shot past them, its brightness temporarily lighting up the vast blackness of the night sky. Niner easily avoided the shot, dipping to the left. Theta was jostled against the side of the seat and he choked back a groan of pain. The sound of gunfire filled the small interior of the ship. Theta wasn't exactly sure who was shooting, all of the dodging and turning was making him a little dizzy.

There were a few pings of bullets bouncing off of the pelican. They suddenly slowed down drastically and two ships sped by. Theta could hear the sound of their missiles firing off at the enemies. He shot a slightly worried glance at Kappa, who was still staring out the back. There were no loud explosions, no shrapnel scraping along the sides of the pelican, and no cries of success from the pilot's cabin to suggest that there had been a hit.

They lurched around for awhile as Niner continued to expertly avoid getting hit. Kappa looked ready to be sick from the way that she groan and tried to brace herself against a seat. A red light started to blink from the cabin and an irritating beeping accompanied it.

"What's happening?" Kappa managed to get out.

479er sounded particularly stressed when she responded, "They've got missile lock on us."

"Uh oh."

"Yes, uh oh. Now, would you please excuse me? I'm _trying_ to fix this." Niner abruptly shut the cabin door and sealed it shut. With a huff, Kappa stepped away from the door.

There was another explosion and Theta sat up, wide eyed. His seat had locked him in place, not allowing him to help in any way. An idea was starting to form in his head, but he would need permission to even try it. Through his HUD, Theta sent a quick clearance request to Alpha and Niner, hoping that they would let him help.

A series of hisses proved that they were releasing the flares. Another explosion shook the pelican and they spun around completely. Kappa lost her footing and started to bounce around. Theta could only watch helplessly as she smacked back and forth between the rows of chairs. He had completely woken up now, the incessant beeping and blasts had rattled him out of his stupor.

They tipped sideways and Kappa gasped loudly. "Oh, shi-" She slammed against the wall and fell to the ground with a thud. She laid there, motionless except for the movement of the ship.

"Hey, hold on back there! Things are gonna get a little crashy!" Niner called out a warning.

Theta finally managed to unlock the safety bar that prevented him from helping Kappa. He jumped up just as they dipped downward sharply. Theta gripped a seat for support and shakily inched his way over to Kappa. With one hand on a seat, Theta leaned down and slipped an arm around her waist. He hoisted her into the closest chair and lowered her safety bar. Kappa slumped down in her seat, still out cold.

Alpha's voice drifted through the sealed door. "Alright, buddy. I'm gonna clear you for equipment usage, but be careful."

"Yeah, but hurry the fuck up!" Niner yelped as the ship took another sharp turn.

Theta's helmet started to malfunction as he stepped away from Kappa. He pulled the now useless piece of armor off of his head and let it fall to the ground. Theta dragged himself to the ladder to the roof, pain shooting up his whole body. His breaths were ragged and he could feel the blood on his face.

Using his gravity boots to keep himself stable, Theta stepped out onto the roof of the pelican. He looked out into the sky, with the wind whipping through his hair and stinging his exposed skin. The sun was starting to rise and Theta could feel the wetness of the clouds around them. The missiles approached quickly and Theta suddenly didn't feel nervous at all.

"Well... Here I go!" Theta nodded, then activated his dome shield. He hit the roof of the pelican, sending up a huge bubble around the ship. The incoming missiles exploded against the shield.

The ship started to fall downward and Theta nearly lost his balance. As soon as he got the chance, Theta threw himself back inside the ship, not wanting to be out there longer than necessary. He fell against the floor and just stayed there, not wanting to move at all. His nerves were fried, Theta doubted that he could take anymore excitement. All that he wanted to do was get back to the another of Invention and sleep.

As if on cue, there was a bright flash of light and one of the Insurrectionist ships exploded. Theta could hear Niner's cry of surprise from the front of the ship. He had to admit, he had been startled as well. There was one more flash, then silence.

The ship started to slow down and Theta breathed a sigh of relief. They were finally home.


	2. Realignment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to celebrate the release of the fic we're doing back to back chapters!

Theta believed he was dying during those precarious few seconds between his adrenaline wearing off from the mission and his arrival to the med ward. Every time he moved the holes in his chest sent white hot flares shooting through the rest of his body. By time he was pulled from the pelican the world was a nothing more than a blur at best. He couldn't even be sure who it was that carried him to the waiting gurney; it could have been Kappa, Alpha, it could have even been FLISS, it wouldn't have made a difference to him. But as soon as he was in the med ward they shoved a healing unit into the undamaged part of his armor and Theta sighed with relief when he felt the morphine kick in.

He wasn't going to be given full time to recover and he knew it. There would be a two hour gap between arrival and debriefing, and in that time Theta would have to be up on his feet. That didn't give him a lot of time for surgery, but they wheeled him in anyway. They hooked something to his arm, and his vision only got worse until everything went black.

The young solider awoke suddenly in one of the comfortless beds in the sick bay. He groaned as he sat up, his chest was still sore but he was clearly going to survive his injuries. 

“Careful,” Kappa said. 

Theta looked up, still rubbing his eyes and tried to force her figure to come into focus. She looked a little blurry around the edges, but it was indeed his friend. She had her helmet off and in her lap, her brown eyes large with concern. 

“How lon til debriif-” Theta slurred. He hoped it would be long enough for the meds to wear off. It was going to hurt like nothing else, but he didn't want to be a mess while talking to the director.

“You still have thirty minutes, just lay back down,” Kappa replied, taking his hand in hers.

Theta nodded and laid back down without a fight. He was still wearing his black under suit, but they had taken his broken chest piece and his equally useless helmet. Kappa's hand felt nice in his, and he tried to let that be the only thing he thought about while his breathing evened out. 

“You're crazy kid,” Kappa stated, breaking his concentration, “there's no way I would have jumped in front of a machine gun for you.”

“Don't lie,” Theta coughed. He smiled despite himself.

“Ok ok I would have, you caught me. But next time you risk life and limb try not to shout my real name. I really shouldn't have told you it in the first place, and people are going to think we're-” she cut off. 

“We're what?” Theta asked curiously, before it dawned on him. He blushed furiously. “Oh, oh I'm sorry.” 

“You're sorry people might think we're dating?” Kappa was smiling, and there was a teasing tone to her voice. She just liked making him blush, the older agent could be so embarrassing sometimes! 

“You're not?” They both jumped as a third voice entered the conversation. Theta looked sluggishly towards the door as a man in bright green armor stepped into the room. “Just when I thought I was starting to get good at reading people.” 

“Delta!” Theta chirped, before breaking into another coughing fit.

“Just came by to make sure you survived your surgery. Of course, you're young and healthy, so I knew it was very unlikely you would perish from your injuries.” Delta commented. It was weird that he wore his helmet in the med bay, it was one of the only places where being helmet-less was the norm. 

“Now I remember why you're not allowed in here, that was the least comforting thing I have ever heard,” Kappa snapped. 

“I thought it was comforting,” Theta said in a small voice. Both of the agents turned on him

“Really?” Kappa asked.

“Ok, not really. But he's trying and that's nice.” Theta admitted.

“I'm glad I could be of assistance, and even more glad to see that you're okay Theta,” Delta nodded curtly to the both of them. “Have an enjoyable debriefing.” And the older agent was gone.

“That guy.” Kappa muttered, shaking her head at Theta.

“He's trying, give him a break.” Theta coughed again. He didn't know what he would have done if Delta hadn't been so quick to offer his friendship when the younger agent first joined. Project Freelancer could be a cruel place, and Theta needed all the friends he could get. 

They fell into a routine silence as they waited for the time to pass. Theta went back to trying to feel Kappa's hand through his armor, and the smile dropped from her face every time he coughed painfully. They took him off the morphine after surgery so he'd be coherent for debriefing, and he was starting to feel sore. At least he'd be able to come back after the Director was done with them.

At five minutes til the pair was approached by one of the technicians. He nervously handed Kappa a new violet chest piece and helmet of the same color, before walking back out. The helmet had a pink streak across the center, just like the old one did. Kappa inspected the helmet, her face changing from mild displeasure to outright rage.

“What's wrong?” Theta asked, sitting up again.

The older woman thrust the helmet into his lap. “Your new equipment. They're so quick to replace it Theta. I guess the Director doesn't like to see the damage he's caused us,” Kappa said bitterly. 

Theta looked at the pristine mark VI helmet in his hands. She was right, it had been rather quick for his new equipment to come in. But wasn't that part of the job? They had to have the best, and he had destroyed his last one. He looked at her own helmet that she had set onto the floor when the tech walked in. It was dark brown, and a different model from everyone elses. It made it easy to keep track of her in battle, but so did her color scheme and it didn't make sense for her to have unique armor. 

Kappa helped to clip on his new chest piece, and they both put their helmets back on as they left the room. While Theta struggled to lift his arms he heard Kappa mutter something, so low he almost missed it. “This is why I didn't set my trackers.”

He wanted to question her, to ask what she meant, but he doubted Kappa would tell him and kept his comments to himself. 

Alpha was waiting for them just outside the briefing room. “Hey Kiddo! How ya doing?” He asked curiously. 

“You'd know if you came to the med ward to visit him.” Kappa snapped. “Even Delta came by.”

“I came by right after surgery to make sure he lived, but I had to get back up here to set up, _Kappa_.” Alpha pointed out waspishly. Theta watched helplessly as his friends griped at each other, shaking his head in defeat. There was just no getting these two to get along. Alpha liked to pick fights for the hell of it, and Kappa was just headstrong enough to go at it with him. 

“I'm fine. A little sore but I'm sure I'll be back in action in no time,” Theta commented before either of them could get into an argument. 

The door slid open and the three agents fell silent. Alpha took the lead, his teammates filing in behind him. The room was still set up as it had been when they were first briefed on the mission. The holographic complex was still shining, despite the fact it's real life counterpart had blown up as they made a hasty exit from it. The director was staring up at the leader board, the counselor nervously hovering around him like he always did. 

“The data you have recovered has pinpointed the location of a very important target for Project Freelancer,” The Director told the agents as he turned around and came to rest in front of them. “Excellent work.”

“Thank you sir.” The agents chorused. Even though they were all wearing helmets Theta imagined Alpha was smiling that same stupid smirk he had. 

“Counselor, please update the board.” The Director continued in his thin accent. It was subtle, but Theta suspected he had come from a southern state. Texas probably.

Then the counselor hit one of the buttons on his clipboard and Theta realized what the Director had just said. Update the board? Was one of them going to get a promotion? It only made sense, if they weren't doing something important Theta would have been allowed to stay in the ward to recover. The three agents stared up at the board, and watched as Kappa's name and Theta's switched places, making him number four and her five. The names blinked red for a moment and the numbers whirred as they adjusted.

“That is all,” the Director said. “Dismissed.”

Theta looked up at Alpha, and then across at Kappa. She was doing a double take from the board and back to the director. Oh gosh, here it comes.

Kappa took a step forward, ripping her helmet off with one hand and hitting the hologram table with the other. “I thought you said the mission was a success  _ Sir _ ,” she accused through gritted teeth. 

Theta and Alpha watched carefully as the Director turned back around. His green eyes flashed menacingly as he looked at the young agent. Her short hair was unruly thanks to the time she had spent in her helmet, but Kappa still looked imposing. 

“One of the mission objectives was stealth. Your carelessness revealed our intentions and made our next mission more difficult,” the Director pointed out. Despite how serious he looked, there was no malice in his voice. It wasn't anything personal to him, Kappa's demotion, it was just another part of the job. “They'll be ready for us.”

Kappa put her helmet against her hip and stared furiously at the ground.

“Dismissed,” the Director repeated, this time indicating if he were to be interrupted again he was going to be most displeased. 

Theta took a step back as Kappa brushed past him. He really hated it when she got like this, but she was so hard on herself lately. Little mistakes like the trackers could really have a big effect on their overall standing. Suddenly Theta thought of what she said earlier, “this is why I didn't set my trackers.”

Had she done this on purpose?

“Think I should talk to her?” Alpha asked suddenly, interrupting Theta's thoughts.

“Huh?” For all his sarcasm, Alpha actually cared about his team. There was no mean spirit in his words, just genuine concern for their upset partner.

Then Kappa reached the automatic door leading out of the room, and smashed the display panel. The door opened with indignation, and she stormed from the room.

“Actually, I think we should give her a minute.” Theta suggested. Alpha shrugged in reply and together they left the room. Alpha threw one last glance over his shoulder as they left, watching to see if the Director was noting what he had done. Their commander was still staring at the board, apparently unconcerned with the damage he had just created. Theta gingerly touched his chest piece, hovering over where the bullets had gone though only hours ago. Yeah, the Director usually wasn't concerned with the damage he caused. Theta was just upset it took Kappa pointing it out for him to see it. 

 

 


	3. Girlie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kappa stepped into the debriefing room, trying to ignore the stares she got from her teammates. Being late to a meeting was never a good idea. Especially when lately The Director had been deducting points from the Leaderboard like Snape from Gryffindor.

Kappa stepped into the debriefing room, trying to ignore the stares she got from her teammates. Being late to a meeting was never a good idea. Especially when lately The Director had been deducting points from the Leaderboard like Snape from Gryffindor.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but said nothing. Kappa quickly walked up to the table with a quiet, "Sorry, sir." She stepped between Eta and Iota after the twins moved to make room for her.

The agents turned their gaze back to the holographic projection that was displayed on the table. The Director cleared his throat loudly. "Iota, you can start."

Iota nodded happily, her shimmery gold armor glinting in the room's dim light. "Right, so the info that Kappa and Theta got from that oil platform really helped us out. It gave us the exact location of an Insurrectionist leader. Her name is Olivia Dunkelman, but goes by 'Girlie.' Weird codename, if you ask me," Iota snorted. A projection of a blonde woman appeared on the table. Kappa tensed, but made herself relax as quickly as she could.

Eta immediately picked up where her sister had left off. "She's an important asset to the Insurrection, so now that we know where Olivia is, it makes the most sense to... Stop her," Eta's voice shook at the vague suggestion and she tugged at the straps on her dull, silver chest plate nervously.

Kappa's heart lurched and she gawked at the picture of Girlie, glad that the others couldn't see her expression through her brown helmet. Luckily, Epsilon's head snapped up in shock.

"We're going to kill her?" He gasped.

Sigma laughed darkly. "Don't act like you've never killed somebody, Epsilon. Just because you know who she is beforehand doesn't mean that you should be afraid of taking care of her. You've never a problem with that situation before."

Epsilon glowered at Sigma through his helmet. "Shut the fuck up, you fucking son of a-"

"Agent Epsilon, Agent Sigma, please listen to the rest of the debriefing," The Counselor cut him off just before Epsilon started to get nasty.

Eta cleared her throat and shifted on her feet once the attention was turned back to her. "In four hours, Girlie is going to be at a pickup point. She, uh, needs to... Pickup something. I guess. We don't really know what it is."

Iota interrupted once Eta started to get anxious. "So, all that we need to do is get there before her and Girlie's going to get one hell of a pickup."

The Director nodded approvingly. "This group is too small to split into teams, so you're all going to need to work together. Girlie will be arriving in four hours from now, so you have until then to get there and set up an ambush. Your leaderboard scores depend heavily on this mission, so do not disappoint me. You are dismissed."

Kappa and the others straightened and nodded. "Thank you, sir," they chorused.

The other agents turned and left after that. Kappa stood there for a second, staring at the slowly rotating projection of Girlie. She in gnawed on her bottom lip, wondering how she was going to fix this. Girlie had never been her favorite person, especially after Kappa had nearly been stabbed by Girlie the first time that she had gone to the Insurrection base to visit Sam.

"Kappa, you coming?" Epsilon called out. Kappa turned away from the image and gave the other Freelancer a curt nod.

She managed to catch up with them by the time they reached 479er's ship. The pilot stood nearby and was rubbing at one of the countless scratches on the exterior of the dinged up ship.

"Hey, Niner!" Iota greeted cheerfully, bouncing toward the open backdoor of the pelican.

Niner grunted and ignored Iota. Eta didn't say anything as she ducked inside after her sister. Sigma lingered outside for a moment, watching Kappa and Epsilon as they walked up. He slowly made his way inside once he was done staring.

"Take off is in five, you should get buckled up," Niner told the two of them absently as they approached.

Kappa and Epsilon made their way into the ship. Epsilon took a seat in the spot closest to the door. He buckled himself without another word and Kappa couldn't help but feel like something was wrong with him.

Her worries about her teammate disappeared once the ship rumbled as Niner got ready to take off. Kappa took a seat and started racking her brain for ways to save Girlie from being assassinated. It was too late to warn her about the incoming team of Freelancers. She couldn't contact Girlie without being caught by the others. Kappa was jolted around as the ship pulled into the air.

Kappa's thoughts were interrupted by Iota, who started to outline their plan. "So, once we get there in about thirty minutes, all that we need to do is set up a simple ambush. We take out any guards and wait for her to show up. We draw her put into the open, then shoot the shit outta her."

Epsilon and Eta both shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Kappa tried to keep her reaction neutral, so didn't move. Sigma leaned back and gave a satisfied sigh. "Sounds like a plan."

Kappa grunted and blocked out the others as they went back and forth about Girlie. Kappa knew that she would need to sabotage the plan somehow. She could make noise and alert Girlie of their presence, but Kappa was supposed to be a trained professional. Someone would get suspicious if she accidentally tripped over her armor.

The Director had said that the leaderboard would play heavily into this mission. Kappa could stand to lose some of the many points she had somehow accumulated. The Project had been watching her too closely her her taste. She needed to be lower on the board, maybe even off of it entirely. Kappa started to come up with a plan then. A plan that would drop her score by the thousands and still look like a simple mistake. She would need to seem sincere about her screw up if she was going to do it, but Kappa was sure that she could pull it off.

"Get ready to land," Niner announced over the intercom. Sigma confidentially stretched back in his seat. Eta gripped the safety bar tightly. Epsilon sighed loudly, letting everyone in the ship know that he still wasn't happy with the plan. Iota didn't move or say saying, so Kappa tried to match her reaction the best she could.

The pelican jerked as they slowed down and started to dip for the landing. It wasn't long before they stopped completely. There was a whirring noise as the back started to open and the safety bars popped up, signaling that it was time for them to leave. Kappa took a deep breath and stood up, feeling oddly antsy and nervous. She normally felt fine before a simple mission like this one, but Kappa assumed that she was feeling anxious because she was about to put her cover, and more importantly, life, on the line for a girl that she barely knew.

Iota bounced from her seat and out into the open, followed by her sister, who went a little more reluctantly. Sigma cockily walked out, already gripping his gun. Epsilon grabbed his battle rifle and dragged his feet as he made his way out of the ship. Kappa was the last to go, so she hit a button on the side of the ship before leaving and all of the lights promptly shut off. The back closed up and Niner took off without so much as a goodbye.

"Alright, team! You guys ready to go kick some ass?" Kappa could practically hear the cheerful grin in Iota's voice.

Sigma was the only one to respond. "I'll be right by your side, Iota." He carefully saluted her.

"Thanks, Sigma. Okay, here's what we're gonna do. Kappa, Epsilon, you two will be in charge of crossing off Girlie. Eta, Sigma, and I will clear out any guards and make sure that you guys don't get interrupted," Iota ordered.

A wave of relief washed over Kappa. This assignment would make her job of keeping Girlie alive much easier. She nodded her understanding and turned on her heels to make her way to the nearby warehouse. Epsilon grumbled, but followed her anyway.

Kappa could hear the others as they moved in, but she concentrated on getting inside the seemingly abandoned building. With one swift motion, Kappa was able to get up onto a fire escape. Epsilon was far less graceful in his running jump, but he still easily made it up. The two of them sat there for a moment, waiting for the all clear from Iota.

A couple of minutes later, their radios clicked on. "You're good to go, Kappa and Epsilon. Just be quiet and stay out of sight. We didn't want to kill everyone in there, just the major threats."

"Why didn't you fucking kill everyone?" Epsilon hissed. Kappa started to creep along the fire escape to the nearest window.

Sigma's annoyed voice interrupted Iota's happy explanation. "Because, Epsilon, don't you think that it would be a little suspicious if Girlie turned up to find only pools of blood where her contacts were supposed to be?"

Kappa could hear the click of Epsilon muting his radio. "I hate that guy."

"He is pretty creepy," Kappa agreed. Sigma had always freaked her out. She finally reached the window, still precariously balanced on the old, rusty fire escape. Kappa carefully slid it open, wincing at the slight creak it made.

Luckily, the window was big enough for her to fit through. Kappa got inside the building with no problem. Epsilon, on the other hand was way taller than her. He sighed and started to try and get through the window.

It was a bit of a struggle and was a pretty awkward fit, but Epsilon eventually collapsed on the dusty floor with a quiet groan. "Okay, I'm done for today."

"Very funny. Come on, we need to find a good spot to hide until Girlie shows up," Kappa whispered after rolling her eyes.

Epsilon stood up with a huff. "Fine. Is anyone on the floor?"

Kappa looked around, hoping that nobody was up there to hear them. Honestly, it was less of a second floor and more of a ledge that looked down at the first floor. Nobody had bothered putting guards up there, so Kappa and Epsilon were safe for the moment.

Motioning for Epsilon to follow, Kappa stealthily made her way to a stack of boxes just high enough for the two of them to fit behind without being spotted. It was a bit of a squeeze, but her and Epsilon managed to wedge themselves between the wall and the boxes. Kappa was positioned so that she could easily see the bottom floor through a gap. Epsilon had no idea what was going on.

"Iota, we're in position. Let us know when Girlie is approaching," Kappa alerted her teammate. She didn't expect a response, so she turned off her radio for the time being.

Everything was quiet and peaceful, before Epsilon opened his mouth. "So, how's Theta? I didn't get the chance to visit him in the med bay before the mission."

"He's healing quickly. Theta will be on his feet before the week ends, don't worry. He's pretty tough," Kappa responded absently. She was trying to keep an eye on a couple of guards that we're getting a little too close for her liking,

Epsilon sighed noisily. "I know that he is. I just worry about him, ya know?" He sighed again and Kappa flinched at the sound. "Why'd he jump in front of the bullets for you, anyway? I mean, no offense, but you probably could've handled it better than him."

Kappa didn't know the answer to that question, so she quietly shushed Epsilon. "Guards."

Luckily, Epsilon listened to her and shut his mouth for once. Kappa watched as the two guards walked underneath them. They were close enough that she could barely hear their conversation.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"

The answer to the stupid question was drowned out by the sound of a ship landing. Kappa shot a glance to Epsilon, who was tightly gripping his battle rifle. He nodded at her and Kappa snuck out from behind the boxes. She drew her knives, the familiar feeling of the handles in her palms calming her sudden nerves.

Kappa's radio buzzed and she answered the call from Sigma. "Girlie is incoming, Agent Kappa. She's unaccompanied. Be ready." The call was promptly ended after that.

After a quick glance to Epsilon, Kappa jumped down onto the pair of guards. She easily knocked them out with little commotion. Epsilon landed right next to her, narrowly avoiding breaking his ankle.

"Okay, how should we do this?" He asked, evident panic starting to creep into his voice.

Kappa flipped one of her knives in the air, the blade glinting almost maliciously. "I'll take her out. You're my backup."

Epsilon seemed satisfied by that plan. He took a step back and let Kappa get in position by the door. She took a deep breath and gulped nervously. The doors slid open and Kappa raised her arm, as if she were getting ready to throw the knife in her hand.

Girlie strutted into the room and everyone snapped to attention. Nobody seemed to notice the two Freelancers that were hidden in the shadows. Girlie wasn't wearing a helmet, like an idiot. Her blonde hair spilled over her armored shoulders and her pink lipstick coated lips were curved upwards in a smirk.

Kappa carefully aimed her knife at Girlie's head, but with a quick flick of the wrist, switched to her shoulder at the last second. Girlie cried out as the knife just barely caught her. Kappa faked freezing in fear as Epsilon swore loudly.

Girlie whirled around, anger burning in her eyes. She stared at Kappa in surprise, but she recovered enough to mouth, "Connie?" to her. Kappa gave her a small shake of the head as Epsilon started shooting at the guards that were rushing their way.

"Dammit, Kappa! We need to go!" He tugged at her arm frantically.

"Kappa? What happened?" Iota's voice came on the radio.

Kappa refused to respond, but she cursed loudly. She raised her arm, like she was going to try again, but Epsilon knocked her arm back down.

"It's too late for that, we need to get out of here!"

Kappa sagged her shoulders in defeat. She turned and ran after Epsilon, but glanced over her shoulder to get one last look at the shocked expression on Girlie's face.


	4. Case File 01.045

  The waiting room was one of the worst rooms on the Mother of Invention in Kappa's opinion. There was next to nothing in the room, just a hard metal bench and the glowing leader board. It took up an entire wall, making sure that no matter where you were in the room you could see your standing. You could see that you were worth nothing more than a rank, a number, and that's what mattered. Kappa couldn't think of anything she wanted more than to be off the board forever, to stop playing these games, but she had to finish her job.

  She sat down on the bench, her helmet in her hands just trying to ignore the feeling of disappointment she got from the mission. She had done it on purpose, but the way the twins looked at her, and Sigma. It was as if they hated her. These people who were supposed to be her teammates.

  “It wasn't your fault Kappy.” She continued to stare down at her lap when Epsilon entered the room. She was supposed to be alone, waiting for debriefing, but she could count on one of her only friends to break protocol to make her feel better. What an idiot he could be sometimes.

  Kappa wanted to scream back at him, to tell him it was and that he had to leave, but she had a mask to uphold and she was going to fucking do it. “Easy for you to say,” the words rolled off like they belonged out in the open. “You didn't drop the ball.”

  She finally glanced to her side, seeing him in her peripheral vision. Epsilon had on his full armor, a dark blue model that was the same as everyone elses. He lifted his hands in a defensive gesture. “The ball got dropped. We were all there, it's everyone's responsibility-”

  “Damnit Epsilon, why are you doing that?” Kappa raised her voice suddenly. She hated the way she sounded so desperate.

  “What am I doing?” Epsilon shot back.

  “Making excuses for me. I'm not making excuses for myself,” she looked down at her helmet, which only showed her a distorted refection of herself. A liar. “Why are you?”

  “I'm trying to make you feel better,” Epsilon said weakly.

  Kappa snorted at that. She didn't need to look at him to know he was starting to get uncomfortable with her hostile attitude. Good, maybe he'd get the hint and leave her alone for a little while. “Oh yeah? Great! Hey, why don't you go make Eta and Iota feel better? Go pat Sigma on the head? See how that works out for you.”

  “First of all, I can't reach Sigma's head that guy is a giant. Second of all, We all make mistakes,” God he was still trying to comfort her!

  “No!” Kappa shouted at him, getting to her feet. “We don't. That's the point! We don't all make mistakes! Some of us very specifically make mistakes while others don't seem to make _any_ mistakes at all.”

  She turned to him, narrowing her eyes. Even in her armor she was still a good half a foot shorter than him. It really sucked being the shortest freelancer. “Kappy come on,” He assuaged her.

  “That's why they're doing all this!” Kappa gestured wildly to the board behind her. Once she had his attention she turned to look at it as well. “These missions! The rankings! They're drawing a line between us Epsilon.”

  She looked at the numbers. She was still number five, but that was going to change soon. Epsilon sat beneath her at six, followed by Sigma and the twins. “And you're either one side of that line or you're on the other,” Kappa took a short breath. “It's getting pretty goddamn clear what side I'm on.” She finally looked down, shaking her head.

  “No one thinks like that!” Epsilon protested as he followed her to the board. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We're a team.”

  “I'm not talking about you guys,” Kappa muttered darkly, pulling her shoulder away from his touch. Maybe if she could spell it out a little better he'd finally get the picture. Maybe he'd finally see her point of view. “I mean them, him!” She nodded viciously at the board.

  Epsilon looked at the board and then back to her. “The Director?” He asked in confusion. “He's given us everything, he's helping us.”

  “Helping us?” Kappa laughed at the thought. “Wake up, wake the fuck up! He's filtering us! This-” She gestured again at the board, “-is a selection process Epsilon! I don't know for what but if you're not at the top of that board you're not worth anything to him!”

  “You're just overreacting, you've always been hard on yourself Kappy,” Epsilon sighed.

  “Not as hard as they are,” Kappa snapped. She reached forward and tapped him on the arm, their armor making a dull clink as the metal collided. “Not nearly as hard as they're going to be.”

  Kappa looked away from him and noticed it was about time for her to be getting to debreifing. She just hoped her words were going to have an impact on him. Epsilon was a good guy, he deserved so much better than this. She turned on her heels, ignoring her helmet. “And don't call me Kappy. It makes me sound like a fucking kid. Call me Kappa like everyone else you asshole.”

  She paused by the door. “Oh, and that line I'm talking about? You better hurry up and figure out what side you're on agent Epsilon. Before they figure it out for you.”

  Epsilon was left alone in the waiting room, staring at her as she boldly walked away. He picked up Kappa's helmet and stared at it helplessly. Damn, his best friend was kind of a dick.

  They were supposed to wear the helmets everywhere, which annoyed and baffled him. It wasn't actually a rule per say, at least, not a written one. Everyone just wore their helmets because it was safer that way. If anything happened they’d be ready at any given moment. Of course there were the less conventional reasons. Epsilon didn’t have to make awkward eye contact with anyone with his helmet on, and if he got caught napping somewhere no one could draw on his face. You’d think on a space ship with the best soldiers in the galaxy you’d have a certain level of maturity, but no. Last time Epsilon fell asleep in the rec room and woke to find “star of the show” written on his cheek in sharpie. He still hadn’t figured out who had done it.

  Epsilon left the room behind her, and watched his friend walk down the hall toward the debriefing room. He debated following her, but she had clearly dismissed him. Instead he looked down the other side of the hall. Kappa and Theta's mission had only been the day before, and the youngest freelancer was still in the med bay for his injuries. Epsilon had yet to go and see him. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about his friend, it was just that being near the med bay made him anxious. He was a trained assassin who was afraid of the sight of blood.

  He clenched his fists as he walked determinedly toward the hospital wing. Maybe if he was lucky Theta would be discharged. Instead Epsilon walked into the viewing room and saw one of the four beds occupied by a dark skinned teenager in purple armor. He swallowed the nerves that we’re starting to rise in his throat and stepped into the room.

  “Hey Epsilon!” Theta jumped nervously at the sight of his friend. His short black hair was laying flat for once, as opposed to his normal helmet-hair style of black locks sticking out all over the place. Theta had a dark complexion, if Epsilon had to guess he'd say the teen was middle eastern, and easily his most discernible feature were his eyes. Theta had heterochromia, meaning his eyes were two different colors. One was a light red, the other dark blue.

  Epsilon waved nervously and stopped near the foot of the bed. He didn’t want to sit down, he definitely didn’t want to stay later than he had to. “How’s are the holes in your chest?” He tried to sound nonchalant. Epsilon had an image as an aloof cool guy to hold up damnit.

  “They’re doing good.” Theta replied, rubbing his chest piece. He had his helmet off and sitting in the chair next to him. Epsilon wondered briefly what had happened to the old helmet.

  “Great-” Epsilon started when the door burst open again and Alpha strolled into the room.

  The team leader and occupier of the number one space on the board had his helmet off, his black hair in its usual scruff style. Alpha had that same smirk he always wore, and Epsilon fully believed it was his default expression. “Heya kiddos!” Alpha greeted them cheerfully. “Epsilon, The Director would like to speak to you, if you wouldn’t mind heading to conference room 6.”

  Theta and Epsilon stared at him blankly. They rarely used the conference rooms for personal meetings. If Epsilon were being sent there something bad had happened. He hoped he wasn’t going to be penalized for the mission today, he had done his best to support Kappa, what had happened was just bad luck. Besides, hadn't they just called Kappa to debriefing? Were they really going to put her off to talk to him?

  “Now, if you don’t mind,” Alpha added after his teammate made no attempt to move.

  “Uh,yeah ok. See you later Theta,” Epsilon waved. 

  Theta waved back. “I’ll be discharged soon, so hopefully I’ll meet up with you later.” He said shyly.

  The door swung behind Epsilon and he was back into the hall. He took a deep breath. He was fine, he was perfectly fine, he’d only been in there for a minute before he had to leave. Great, he was out of one place that made him anxious, and was being sent to a whole other sort of anxiety inducing situation. Being a solider sucked sometimes.

  Epsilon walked across the ship, keeping his helmet low as he tried to remember where specifically conference room six was. It was above the cafeteria, no, it was close to the locker rooms wait that’s not right. They used the rooms so rarely Epsilon couldn’t even remember the last time he was in there. The agent ended up opening an access panel and referencing the directory. Hey, he was right the first time. Epsilon jogged the rest of the way, sure he was going to be late.

  He pulled at the door, labeled only with a silver six painted on it, but found it was locked. Great,now he was really going to be- before he could finish the thought the door hissed and opened, revealing a dark room.

  “Hello?” Epsilon asked, unsure if anyone were in there. he really couldn’t see much.

  “Come in agent Epsilon.” Replied a cool voice. The Counselor.

  Epsilon stepped in and only jumped a tiny bit when the door closes automatically behind him. As he adjusted to the dim lightening he found The Director seated in an arm chair behind a large desk, The Counselor at his side holding that damn stupid clipboard he always had.

  Epsilon stopped a few feet in front of the desk and went to attention like agents were supposed to in the presence of The Director.

  “Agent Epsilon have you noticed any strange transmission recently?” The Director asked without batting an eye.

  Epsilon gave a start. Strange transmissions? He had thought he was going to be reprimanded for his failure on the day's mission. “No sir.”

  The director shook his head. “FLISS has been giving me reports of some encrypted call logs that she can't decipher. We believe it's someone aboard the ship trying to contact the insurrectionists, but until we crack it we can't be sure. Are you certain you haven't noticed any of your teammates acting suspiciously?”

  So that's what this was. They wanted him to turn on his team. Epsilon gritted his teeth. “No sir.” He repeated, a little more forcefully this time.

  “Do you have any knowledge as to who the insurrectionists may be trying to get in contact with?”

  “No sir.”

  “If you do find something out and report it to us, the information could come with a promotion.”

  Maybe the sentence was supposed to entice him to come clean, but it felt more like he had just been punched in the gut. So soon after Kappa declared the leader board a sham he's offered a promotion for little more than grade school tattling. “I'll let you know if anything comes up,” Epsilon told him, knowing damn well he was lying.

  “Thank you agent, Do not discuss this with any of your teammates. Dismissed,” The Director waved his hand at the door.

  “Yes sir,” Epsilon chorused, before pulling an about face and striding smoothly out of the door. He could feel his hands shaking. The Director suspected one of them of being some sort of spy, and Epsilon could only hope he was wrong.

  The young agent wasn't exactly sure where he was heading, his mind was clouded with worry. He should go back to Theta, no he already established the teen was fine, he should head back to his room-

  “Hey Epsilon wait up!” Epsilon found his mind made up for him when Theta shouted from behind him.

  The teen had his helmet back on, and jogged to catch up with Epsilon. “They let you out already?” Epsilon asked.

  “Yeah! Nothing much else they can do for me, and moving around is the only way I'll get back into the swing of things,” Theta shrugged. “How'd the meeting with the internals go?”

  Epsilon could only shrug in reply.

  Theta tilted his helmet, and Epsilon could almost see him frowning. “Mind if I ask you what it was about?” He asked timidly.

  “Hmm,” Epsilon hummed. “I'm not really supposed to talk about that.”

  “oh, uhm. Are you-” Theta gesticulated wildly. “Well, I just- I'm still getting heat from them for using equipment on the field,” He sighed finally.

  “You did?” Epsilon stopped walking to turn toward his friend. He could hear the concern in his voice, but he didn't care, Theta deserved it. “Really? Without a pipeline back to the command server?!”

  Theta shrugged, looking away from his friend and nervously scuffing his boot. “I had to improvise. We had a, uh, problem.”

  “Yeah, are you dating the problem?”

  Theta froze completely, staring at Epsilon with mute horror.

  “Geez kid, I'm joking! Unless you are dating?”

  “N- no!” Theta stuttered. “Can we just, I don't want to talk about it.”

  The younger agent started walking forward again as Epsilon put his hands up defensively. “Sure thing Theta. I just can't believe you used equipment in the field! Don't forget what happened to Pi during training. You're lucky you didn't kill yourself.”

  Theta shrugged noncommittally. “If I was lucky I wouldn't have needed to use it at all.”

  Epsilon hadn't noticed while they were walking, but they were coming up toward the training ring. Theta must be really excited to be up again. “Well you can relax, internals didn't ask about you,” Epsilon informed him. A guard ran past them suddenly, but Epsilon ignored him. Most of the guards around here were always running around.

  “It was something else. Lots of questions about the insurrectionists and transmissions coming out of our-”

  Epsilon was interrupted by one of the guards colliding with him. The both stumbled, but Epsilon managed to catch himself before he could fall.

  “Sorry sir!” the guard said quickly, but Epsilon could tell by the way he was still moving forward that he more focused on where he was going than anything else.

  “Hey, what's going on!” Epsilon called after him. Where on earth could he be headed to that was so important? “Solider, where is everybody running?”

  The solider stopped to stare at him, before pointing excitedly at the training ring. “New agent!” He said breathlessly. “Squaring off against Sigma, Gamma, and Delta on the training room floor! We're going to watch!” He added excitedly before taking off again. “Hey guys, wait up!”

  Epsilon turned to Theta, the younger agent was looking up at him in confusion. “Three on one?” Theta asked.

  “I have got to see this!” Epsilon exclaimed, all nervousness of his meeting with the director evaporating at the thought of a show.

  “Yeah, right behind you.” Theta agreed, a bit more confidently.

  A new recruit facing off against three of the top agents? Now that's something you don't see every day.  

 


	5. Captive Audience

“3... 2... 1... Round begins”

Before FLISS had even finished counting down two of the top fighters in Project Freelancer and agent Gamma were knocked back on their asses.

Agent Alpha stepped into the viewing box, his white helmet back on and his tone light. While the rest of the soldiers had to watch events in the stands around the ring, the freelancers had special access to a top box above it for a better view. Alpha quickly noted that almost all of the top ten were present, save for the three who were already in the ring. “What's going on down there?” Alpha asked Eta, the first agent he saw. “There's no training sessions on the schedule.”

“It's impromptu,” Eta shrugged in reply. She was leaning against the glass, trying to believe what she was seeing.

“Who the hell is that?” Alpha asked as he got closer to the window. Four sets of armor occupied the ring. Standing in a line of three were Gamma, Delta, and Sigma. Gamma's armor was a light blue, with the standard helmet. Delta's was a toxic shade of green, his helmet was an older model though it never seemed to slow him down. Sigma's armor was the most unique, it was painted fire truck red, with tiny flame decals hand painted on. Whenever he was feeling down Alpha just had to think about Sigma painstakingly drawing the stupid little fires on his armor by hand, and it always cheered him up. The new person was wearing black armor, but as he moved in the light Alpha could see a purple sheen to it. It was a color Alpha had never seen before on any of them. The individual was tall, not quite Sigma's height but enough to be imposing.

“Some new recruit,” Eta replied incredulously. She was standing next to Epsilon and Theta who were both looking nervously from Alpha to the floor where Delta and his teammates were getting back to their feet.

They were all holding the feudal-sticks that Epsilon hated so much. He called them the jolt wands, and they stung like a bitch if you got hit by one, which he did often in training. One by one, which was a stupid method honestly, Delta, Sigma and Gamma charged the newbie again, and one by one they were knocked back.

“He sure doesn't move like a new recruit.” Epsilon pointed out.

“Why do you assume it's a guy?” Iota asked him from his other side, a threatening note in her jab.

“Oh, I uh, I didn't really mean he- I mean it-” Epsilon back tracked immediately, waving his hands as Theta laughed behind him.

“He is a guy but still Epsilon, that's pretty sexist of you.” Eta finished the thought.

“Don't be a douche bag Eta,” Alpha snapped, walking behind them as he tried to find the best spot to watch the match. When he saw Epsilon and Eta turn on him he snapped again, “can it both of you!”

Eta took the dare. “Sounds like someone may be a little concerned about their position,” She commented darkly.

Alpha rounded on her. “Hey Eta pay attention,” He said angrily, pointing his finger at the ring. “You may actually learn something if you stopped running your mouth for a minute.”

The sisters glared at their leader for a second before turning back to the ring. Delta and Sigma were flat on their backs again, while the new guy had Gamma draped over his back, held up by the staff. The light blue agent was waving his left hand wildly while the right was trying to free himself from the new recruit's grip. Delta and Sigma jumped to their feet in an attempt to help their friend, but the second they were up the recruit dropped Gamma, swinging his staff forward and knocking them both over again.

Gamma quickly sprung to his feet, and tried to hit the new person while his back was turned, but the new man was faster. In a dark purple blur he turned, jabbing Gamma twice with the staff before bringing it down on his head. Gamma doubled over with a grunt, but he wasn't done yet. The man swung the staff up, hitting Gamma's chest and sending him sprawling.

Delta tried to take advantage of his divided attention, but before he could strike the agent turned lightly on his feet, their staffs colliding and emitting sparks. They struck at each other fruitlessly, Delta holding his best so far, but in a matter of seconds he was knocked back and Sigma took his spot.

Sigma was larger than the others, a thing he used to his advantage well. He brought the staff down with both hands over his head, and forced the new trainee to use both hands to block it. The only problem with his size was the fact that it made him slower than most of the others. Before he could work up another attack the man in the black armor jabbed him twice in the sides. It stung, one could be sure of that, but Sigma kept on his feet and managed to strike again. The new recruit danced out of his reach, spinning the staff and whacking his helmet. Sigma tried to do the two handed swing again, but the new agent had seen it already. He brought his own staff down over Sigma's, throwing off the taller agent's balance, before bring his staff up sharply in Sigma's face, sparks spitting furiously as it connected. The blow was hard enough to break the staff and send Sigma flying through the air. He landed with a dull thud next to Gamma who hadn't bothered getting up yet. Sigma struggled to his feet while the new recruit threw the now useless staff to the ground, but he was too dizzy and stumbled a few feet before falling back over.

“Round one over, feudal-stick training complete,” FILSS announced as the new recruit walked away from the three agents he had just mercilessly beaten. “Point awarded to Omega. The current score is team one-”

the rest of FILSS's announcement was lost as Epsilon turned to Alpha in confusion. “Omega?” He asked. “Huh?”

“I thought that name was reserved,” Alpha crossed his arms across his chest. It may have just been Epsilon's imagination, but he sounded concerned.

“Nice moves,” Epsilon pointed out, trying to see how their leader would react.

“Could be luck,” Alpha shot back in a condescending tone. So he was worried. “We'll see.”

“Beginning hand to hand combat.” FILSS announced, bringing their attention back to the floor. “Round two in 5... 4... 3...”

Delta stepped between his teammates, his hands raised in a defensive gesture. He usually wore glasses, with the exception of missions and training in which he put in his pair of contacts. He had worn the mark VI helmet when he first joined, but after discovering the mark V was easier on his eyes he switched. If anyone cared he was wearing an older helmet they kept it to themselves. He liked to think that his number two ranking was enough to deter even the boldest from teasing him.

“2...”

Delta stepped in front of Sigma and Gamma to be the head of their attack formation, it was the logical thing to do.

“1. Begin”

Delta stepped carefully away from Omega, his gaze set. “Alright guys, this fight should go much easier for us if we can simply play it by the book,” He nodded at them. They rushed into the feudal-stick round thinking they had it in the bag and were ruthlessly shot down. This time if they used a more strategic approach Delta was sure they could handle one new agent.

“Sigma, I recommend you flank to the-” He was cut off as his teammate dashed away from his side, charging Omega head on. Predictably he was struck back with a single blow, landing next to Delta as the agent was finishing his sentence, “-left.”

Delta and Gamma stared down at him while Omega laughed derisively in front of them. “That wasn't a very well thought out decision,”- Delta pointed out. He turned to his remaining teammate. “The best course of action from here would be to stick together-”

Gamma darted away without him, getting knocked back even faster than Sigma did, which is a feat in on itself. Delta groaned, staring down at his imbecile partners. “What is with you two? Am I the only one on this team that can talk?”

“I don't think taking’s your problem.” A deep voice commented.

Delta jumped as Omega appeared by his side. The new agent had been giving them a chance stratagize when the match started, but when he saw they weren't doing anything cohesive he decided to go on the attack, and Delta had been counting on the opposite. It was training for heaven's sake, they were supposed to go easy on each other!

Delta let out a surprised shout as he saw Omega lean back to make a punch. He brought his hands up to protect his face which was what it looked like the new agent was aiming for, but let out a wheeze as Omega struck him in the chest instead. Delta was knocked back and still managed to fall on his face in a less than graceful manner.

Sigma got back to his feet, a move that didn't go unnoticed by Omega. The new recruit lashed out at Gamma first, who hadn't even gotten to his feet yet, his foot connecting with the light blue helmet. Sigma growled furiously as he leaned forward to get at Omega. The smaller agent didn't retreat this time, and instead used Sigma's force against him. Whenever Sigma went to hit him, Omega side stepped the blow, causing Sigma to swagger forward a few steps and waste precious seconds turning back around. Enraged, Sigma threw a heavy punch towards Omega's middle, knowing he wouldn't be able to block it. The new recruit raised his arms and caught the blow, but faltered backwards a step.

Sigma wasted no time in rearing back for another blow, but this time he swung too high and Omega ducked beneath him, grabbing his belt and throwing him into the air. Sigma made a small gasping noise as Omega kicked him from behind, knocking him into Gamma who had only just stood up.

Delta tried to get into his defenses, but after exchanging a few quick blows with Omega he took a punch to his face, and he lost his balance. Omega took the force of the blow and used it to spin around, elbowing him in the center of his chest and knocking Delta to the floor.

Up in the viewing box all of the gathered freelancers winced as Delta made a crunching noise as he hit the ground.

“Oh gosh, okay that was pretty impressive!” Theta chirped.

“Poor Delta, that had to hurt,” Iota commented nervously.

Her sister nudged her. “Yeah, don't want your boyfriend to get injured during a sparring match, that would be embarrassing,” Eta teased.

Iota immediately nudged her back. “We're not dating!” She said, her voice a higher pitch than it normally was.

“Yet.” Eta muttered, before moving to Epsilon's other side to avoid retaliation.

“Hush, both of you,” Alpha commanded, his normal cheer missing from his tone. He still had his arms crossed, and was watching the field like a hawk.

Delta got back to his feet, careful to make sure he was nowhere near Omega so he could stay that way. Sigma and Gamma stood up behind him with varying degrees of grace, both obviously dazed from the punishment they just took.

“Guys, this irregular attack pattern is clearly not working for us,” Delta observed harshly. “how about this time we stay in formation and instead of-”

While he was positioning himself again behind his back Gamma and Sigma gave each a sly look and darted back into the fray without their leader. Each wanted to be the one to take the new recruit down. After the painful beating they received it felt kinda personal now.

Delta let his shoulders sag as they rushed past him. “I can't believe this!” He raged, before jogging forward to catch up to them. “Why did I volunteer for this?”

Sigma reached the new recruit first, and his punch was repelled by a well placed kick of all things. Gamma swung next, and without colliding with anything took a punch straight to the face. Once he was back Delta came forward and managed to cover long enough for his teammates to get back up before he too was knocked back. A swing downwards and Sigma was down again. A kick and Delta stumbled. Omega swung himself over a confused Gamma, before punching him and knocking the older man flat on his back. Gamma hadn't gotten a single hit in Delta noted as he charged again, making sure Omega's attention was on Sigma before he struck.

It didn't matter that they were getting closer, and finally starting to work together to divert Omega's attention. The new agent managed to not only block all of their attacks, but get in enough attacks of his own to keep driving them back. Once he ducked fast enough to cause Sigma to punch Gamma in the face on accident. If he wasn't so indignant about the whole thing Delta would have found it humorous. As it was he was struggling back to his feet, noticing both of his teammates on the floor. Before he could get up further than his knees Omega ran up to him, kneeing him in the chest before bringing his foot around and kicking Delta back down. This time Delta stayed on the ground, his breath coming in short rasps.

“Round over,” the voice over the intercom brought sweet relief to Delta, letting him know this exchange was at an end. He didn't even care that the follow up statement was simply, “point Omega.”

He continued to lie on the floor as the voice informed him that hand to hand was over, and that she'd be resetting the floor for the lock down paint scenario. Then Delta realized it was time for the lock down paint scenario and he was as good as boned.

“Ugh,” Epsilon said in the box, looking away from the field in sympathy for the four men. “I hate that paint!”

“Tell me about it,” Iota agreed.

“Stings like a bitch!” Eta chipped in.

“And it turns your armor hard as a rock,” Theta said. The rest of them looked at him. “What? You guys took all the insightful things, I had to say the obvious.”

“I wouldn't know,” Alpha said smugly while they were laughing with the teen. They went silent and turned on him. Alpha shrugged, “it's not bad if you don't let it hit you.”

“Gee thanks,” Epsilon rolled his eyes at his leader. “I'll try to remember that.”

Back on the floor team one was loading their paint guns while FILSS informed them that round five was now starting. They prepped in silence, the count down more like a death sentence than a reminder this time. Once she told them to begin they silently stalked through the pillars she had created for cover, careful to keep together. Or at least, Delta thought they were keeping together.

Delta rested his back against one of the center pillars, looking to his left where Sigma was ducking. “Sigma!” He hissed through clenched teeth. “I'm going to go left you-” And the other agent was gone.

Delta was not driven to sarcasm often, but his teammates were getting on his last nerve. A series of bright violet flashes let him know that Sigma was probably already down for the count and Delta lost it. “Or you could just run out and do whatever you want and get killed. Ready? Break,” Sigma's prone body was tossed back between the pillars, now adorned with paint. “Good job everybody.”

Another set of flashes accompanied by the zap of the gun let him know Gamma was probably down too.

Delta shook his head. “It's going to be a long day.” He commented to himself, finally leaving the shelter of his pillar to hunt down Omega.

He searched through the pillars unsuccessfully, just catching glimpses of the new recruit in the corner of his eye, but losing track of the black blur when he shifted his attention. Several rounds passed in which he was always the last remaining member of his team, just as much trying to avoid Omega as he was trying to find the guy. It almost felt like he was in a horror movie, seeing the immobilized bodies of his team as he raced through the pillars, his heart rate starting to beat through the roof. It didn't help that Omega wasn't going to take it easy on him. The new agent was still fighting as well as using his gun, even going so far as punching Delta in the cod piece before shooting him in the head as he reeled in pain. It was really starting to grate on him how many times FILSS was saying, “point Omega.”

“Hey, Gamma.” Delta whispered during one round. He had lost track of how many times he had lost, had to scrape the paint off, and restart. Once again he was the last one, his partners were statues in the middle of the field. “Where is he, can you see him?”

A gun was suddenly thrusted against the back of his helmet. Delta gulped audibly. “You know what? Never mind, I think I have located him.”

Delta let out an anguished groan as the gun went off, encasing his entire helmet in the awful stiffening paint.

This went on for several more rounds. They were starting to get the hang of working together, but Omega was always faster, smarter, and more ruthless than the three of them put together. Not one of them got a single hit on him.

“After eight rounds the score is: zero eight, advantage Omega.”

“Yeah, advantage is the right word FILSS.” Sigma grumbled as he pack a new clip into his gun. He walked past Gamma, slipping the second agent a new clip.

“Round nine begins in 5...”

“Hey,” Delta watched as Gamma put the clip in. That wasn't paint. “What are you two doing? This is not allowed!”

“2... 1... round nine begin.”

The three of them lined up at the front of the maze of pillars, but while Delta lifted his paint gun Sigma and Gamma immediately started firing off live rounds into the field.

Omega darted across the floor in front of them, using the pillars for cover, but they weren't meant for live fire and quickly crumbled under the hail of bullets.

“What?!” Theta shouted.

“Are they using live rounds on the training floor?” Epsilon gasped.

“Looks like it,” Alpha kept his voice level.

“That's against protocol they're going to kill him!” Epsilon continued worriedly.

“Probably.” Kappa said.

“Someone should get The Director!”

Kappa snorted at that. “The Director? Who do you think gave them the ammo?”

“Watch your mouth Kappa,” Alpha said sharply, effectively silencing the conversation.

Omega rolled behind one of the pillars and came to a stop. It wouldn't cover him long, but he had to do something to level the field and fast.

“Stop this at once!” Delta said furiously, grabbing at Gamma's arm. He may have been a higher rank, but the other two agents were larger than him and without much trouble Gamma tore himself from Delta's grip and pressed onward. Delta huffed indignantly. “Absolutely not.”

He quickly darted through the pillars until he maneuvered himself to the pillar next to where Omega had taken shelter. He ran up behind the new agent despite his better judgment to warn him. “Look out!” but his cry was cut short by Omega putting the gun in his face. “Hey, I'm trying to help.”

“I don't need your help!” Omega snarled viciously. “Never abandon your team.”

Gamma tossed a grenade to Sigma before jumping onto the pillar that his team leader was talking to his enemy behind. They both looked up in alarm and rolled out of the way as he fired at the floor. Gamma jumped down in an attempt to knock Omega out, but the agent simply side stepped and punched him as he landed.

Sigma came from behind another one of the pillars, his gun raised, his spartan helmet reflecting the lights as he charged. Instead of shooting Omega he tried punching the recruit, and once again swung too wide. Omega hit him twice, and then kicked him out of the way. He managed to stay on his feet and swung again. The time Omega let him swing, but parried the blow so he hit one of the pillars instead. The second his fist collided Omega pulled his gun and shot the hand, trapping Sigma.

With his attention on incapacitating Sigma, Omega failed to notice Gamma getting back to his feet. A single lucky bullet caught Omega on the arm, creating a loud static noise. Omega let out a cry of pain and looked up, darting out of the way of the rest of the bullets. He swung wide before charging Gamma.

Gamma tried to shoot him again, but with his good arm Omega got in several hits, knocking Gamma back to the floor.

Delta jumped forward, putting an arm on Omega's shoulder. “That's enough!” He shouted, but Omega simply turned on him and flattened him as well.

Omega turned before Delta even hit the floor, shooting Gamma enough times to almost completely coat his armor with the awful pink paint. Stiff as a board, Gamma started to tilt forward, but he never hit the ground. Faster than he thought possible, Omega was on him, grabbing him by the one clean spot on his helmet and driving him through one of the pillars. Because Gamma had so much paint on him he got stuck, his head still in the pillar even after Omega let him go.

The new agent took a step back, observing the rest of team one. Sigma still had his hand stuck to the pillar, and Delta was struggling to his feet. Omega started to walk toward Delta, his hands clenched into fists, when he heard a gross cracking noise behind him. He turned to find Sigma had pulled his hand free from the paint, and was no longer even bothering with the gun. Sigma charged wildly, knocking a pillar straight into Delta when he missed.

Delta was thrown violently to the ground, his head spinning with stars. That was a concussion if he'd ever had one before. Omega rolled out of the way, picking up Delta's dropped gun as he sprang to his feet. In a fluid motion he used both guns on Sigma, covering his enemy with the hardener so that this time he couldn't escape. Once he was satisfied Omega leaned back and kicked the taller man in the throat, sending him crashing back into one of the only undamaged pillars left.

As Sigma fell to his knees Omega noticed something in his right hand that the new agent had missed at first. A grenade. With one hand he plucked the pin and tossed it at Omega.

With no force behind the throw it took one step to get out of the way. Omega scoffed as he let it fly past him, looking up to see where it would land instead. The grenade made a small noise as it bounced and rolled to a stop next to a still staggering Delta. The green agent tried to stand up, but let out a small groan before collapsing a foot from the deadly bomb.

“Hey!” Omega shouted, but it was no use, Delta was down for the count. He swung his right arm forward, and found that his shoulder was still damaged from the gun shot he had taken from Gamma. He'd have no time to move Delta to safety, he'd have to do the next best thing.

Omega swung his left arm instead, shooting Delta as many times as he could around the face and chest area as quickly as he could. The bomb went off with a deafening bang, knocking Omega and Delta into the air. Delta let out a scream of pain as he hit a pillar, his visor cracking.

“Shit!” Screamed Theta from the box.

“Delta!” Iota shouted, hitting the glass as if it could get her down on the floor with him.

“Those maniacs,” Eta breathed.

The rest of the agents quickly sprinted from the box, while Alpha clicked the com button on the dash in front of him. “FILSS, we need a medical team to the training floor, stat!” He shouted, alarms starting to wail, before turning to follow his team. What he saw instead was Kappa in the corner, standing over a prone form. The armor was colbalt.

“Alpha!” Kappa shouted, leaning down next to Epsilon. “Come here, help!”

Alpha raced to their side. Epsilon was curled on the floor, his head between his hands and he was shaking uncontrollably. Kappa gripped his shoulder and tried to pull him back, but he tugged away from her, whimpering pathetically.

“What happened?” Alpha gasped. He couldn't deal with two injuries, not so quickly.

“I don't know, we were going to follow the rest of the team to the floor and he just collapsed!” Kappa shouted frantically.

“N-No!” Epsilon shouted suddenly, swinging out and catching Kappa on the shoulder. She let out a grunt and fell backwards.

“Hey, Epsilon!” Alpha shouted, trying to get through to his friend. He quickly tapped his helmet to get a medical scan on his teammate.

Epsilon was having a panic attack.

“Crap, alright, I need to check on Delta, stay with him!” Alpha shouted, getting back to his feet.

“What?!” Kappa shouted back. She got back to her feet, still hovering near her friend but not getting close enough for him to hit her again. “What's wrong with him!?” her voice echoed hollowly in the room. Alpha was gone.

 


	6. Lifting the Veil

Alpha's heart pounded and his mind raced. He was torn between going back to help Epsilon and continuing on the path to helping Delta. From what he could tell, Delta was seriously injured. All of the Freelancers were crowded around his bleeding form.

Pushing through the group, Alpha rushed to be next to Delta, trying to ignore the pool of dark red blood that he was kneeling in. "Holy fuck," Alpha swore loudly when he saw the damage that Sigma had caused.

The visor of Delta's helmet was completely shattered. In addition to all the blood, glass was everywhere along with debris from the pillar that Delta had smashed through.

There was a slight moan and Alpha nearly jumped out of his skin. He had no idea that Delta was still somehow conscious. Iota made a small noise of horror, but seemed glued to where she stood. Alpha attempted to comfort his best friend as he lay there, bleeding.

"Hey, man. You're gonna be alright. We have a med team on their way, they'll be able to help you. So don't worry, Delta, you'll be fine," Alpha told him. He hoped that he was being reassuring. He had never been good at helping others, but then again, neither had Delta.

Suddenly, there were the heavy footsteps of the medics. Alpha was pushed away from Delta, much to his displeasure. They all leaned over his friend, frantically working on him. They all took a few steps back to give them space.

Concern filled Iota's voice when she asked, "Is he gonna be okay?"

Eta slowly shook her head, as if she were disappointed. "Why'd the new guy do that to Delta?"

In the background, they could hear a thud of someone falling to the ground and Sigma yelling, "Get off me!"

"Shot him with the paint, completely sacrificed him," Eta continued as if she hadn't heard Sigma. None of them really wanted to look at him or think about him right now.

Iota glared at her sister. "Lockdown _hardens_ the armor. He probably saved Delta's life."

"That's smart," Theta commented.

Alpha couldn't help but scoff. "Yeah. Real smart." He knew that he shouldn't, but he resented the new Freelancer. Somehow, he had managed to completely defeat three soldiers at the same time, which Alpha doubted that he could even do.

The Director's angry southern accent cut through their chatter, silencing them instantly. "Everyone! Stand down, now!"

They all fell into a line. Alpha tried not to look The Director in the eyes, even though he was still wearing a helmet. In his peripheral vision, Alpha watched as Kappa and Epsilon walked into the room and hurried into the line. A thousand questions were on the tip of Alpha's tongue, mostly directed at The Director, but some for Epsilon. What had he even panicked about?

The Director started his lecture and Alpha winced. "You should all be ashamed of yourselves. I expect you to act as a team."

Epsilon spoke up, his voice still a little shaky. "Sir, they broke regulation by using live ammunition on the training floor."

The Director turned on Epsilon, his face a mask of fury. He got really close to Epsilon and spit out at him, "Do you think that our enemies will care about regulations on the battlefield, Agent Epsilpn?"

Epsilon nervously took a step back, seeming scared. Alpha was used to that glare of anger from The Director, but he supposed that the other Freelancer hadn't seen that side of him much yet. "So... You're not going to punish them?" Epsilon managed to get out.

"Ingenuity, and adaptability are _admirable_ traits. You should all learn something new from this experience. Dismissed," The Director finished with a bitter tone his voice, then stalked off with The Counselor following him.

As soon as he was gone, Alpha could hear Kappa mutter, "Yeah, we should've learned something, alright."

Epsilon stared after The Director with an expression of disbelief. "What? I can't believe this!"

"Make sure to check your place on that list, Epsilon," Kappa rolled her eyes.

"Hey. Kappa, go easy on him," Alpha scowled at her. Normally, he wouldn't care about what Kappa and Epsilon argued about, but he was feeling protective at the moment.

Alpha watched as another team of medics helped Omega up. His arm sent up a shower of sparks and he pushed at one of the medics that were crowding him. "Don't touch me!"

Not wanting to linger on the new Freelancer, Alpha turned back to Epsilon. "Alright, are you going to tell me what the hell that was back there?"

Eta and Iota left after Delta was carried out, leaving Theta and Kappa to stare between the two of them. Epsilon shrugged. "I just had a panic attack. I'm fine now."

"Wait, what?" Theta exclaimed, seeming worried about Epsilon. Alpha rolled his eyes, but didn't vocalize his exasperation. Somehow, he didn't have the heart right now.

Kappa filled in for Theta. "After the grenade went off, Epsilon freaked out. He was on the floor, shaking and everything. It really scared me, to be honest."

Epsilon sighed dramatically. "Look, I'm fine. I just don't like looking at that much blood, that's all."

Glancing over at the pool of blood that was still on the training room floor, Alpha frowned. Then, he looked back to Epsilon, ready to go off on him. "Epsilon, you are a trained Freelancer who's afraid of blood? It's your job to kill people! And I'm not even going to mention how you've never even told me this before!" Alpha's voice got higher as he ranted, like it always did when he was upset. Sometimes it was pretty hard to be threatening when your voice cracked when you got angry.

Epsilon shrugged, almost sheepishly. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm fine. I promise that it won't happen again."

"Med bay. Now. I'm not buying any of that 'I'm fine' bullshit today, Epsilon. You're not fine and we both know it," Alpha scolded.

There was a tense moment where Alpha expected Epsilon to protest. He was ready to drag the other Freelancer to the med bay if he had to. Instead of arguing, however, Epsilon's shoulders slumped tiredly and he nodded slowly, "Yeah... Yeah, okay. I'll go."

"Do you want me to take you there?" Theta asked, his tone almost hopeful.

Epsilon just nodded in response, so Theta just hurried to walk alongside him. As soon as they were out of earshot, Alpha turned to Kappa, who was still quiet. He interrupted her thoughts by questioning, "Did he say anything while he was on the floor?"

"Nothing other than to tell me that he didn't want me to touch him," Kappa answered immediately, like she had known what Alpha was going to ask before he had even said anything. Kappa had always been good at reading people.

Alpha grunted, then turned to leave. "Come on, I'm going to go ask The Counselor about Delta. Want to come with?"

"Sure," Kappa said as she started to walk out of the training room with Alpha at her side, "So what do you think of the new Freelancer?"

"Omega? He seems like an asshole," Alpha scoffed. In truth, he was slightly nervous about Omega. The guy had come in without saying a word and destroyed _three_ of the best Freelancers effortlessly. They had barely able to land a single hit on the new soldier, which even Alpha couldn't manage. If this guy was so good, he could overtake Alpha on the leaderboard and possibly destroy his position as leader of the team. He couldn't let that happen.

Kappa snickered at that as if she knew exactly what Alpha was thinking. "You know what I think?"

The two of them rounded a corner and came into the long hallway that led to The Director's and The Councilor's office. Alpha turned and looked down at Kappa, who was staring up at him. "What?"

"I think that you're threatened by him," Kappa finished. Alpha could hear the teasing grin in her tone, so he tried not to get offended.

"Him? Nah, I could take him. Easy," Alpha told her in what he hoped was confidence.

As they reached the end of the hallway, Kappa laughed at him. "No way. If he could take down Delta, Sigma, and Gamma, then you're not gonna come close to beating him. No matter what you do."

Alpha scowled and made a noise of displeasure. He knew that she was right, though. Instead of admitting that, he knocked three times on The Director's office door. The sound echoed through the empty hallway, loud enough that it was almost startling.

They waited there for almost a full minute before the door cracked open. The Counselor stared at them blankly, like he had no idea why they were there. Alpha awkwardly cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but we would like to know what happened to Delta."

The Counselor's slightly confused expression cleared and he nodded. "Of course, Alpha. Agent Delta is currently in surgery, but you and the other agents will be able to visit him in the hospital in about an hour. Of course, he might not be conscious."

"Surgery?" Kappa asked before Alpha could say anything.

"Yes. The doctors are currently trying to save his left eye, but it doesn't look like they'll succeed."

Alpha stared numbly at The Counselor. There was no way that this was happening. Losing his eye could definitely make Delta's job a thousand times harder and more painful. Hell, it could even put him out of his job. A sudden rush of anger towards Omega came over Alpha. He clenched his hands into fists and ground his teeth together. Omega had waltzed in here like he owned the world and changed his best friend's life completely by causing him to _lose a fucking eye._

When Alpha didn't say anything, Kappa spoke for him. "Sir... What happened to the new recruit, Omega? Shouldn't he visit Delta with the rest of us? And maybe apologize or something?"

The Counselor gave Kappa a condescending smile. "Agent Omega won't be joining the rest of you, I'm afraid. He is currently in a meeting with The Director and will be for quite a while."

That answer made Alpha crane his neck to look inside The Director's office. He caught a glimpse of a tall, darkly armored figure. A part of his armor caught the light and all Alpha could see was the purple. The Counselor shut the door slightly to keep Alpha from seeing anything else.

"This is a private meeting, Alpha," he scolded, "The Director and Agent Omega have some very important events to discuss. If you and the other agents can wait in the recreation room, I will send you a message when Agent Delta is ready to accept visitors."

Alpha scowled at him, unhappy that The Counselor couldn't even see his frown. Before he had time to swear loudly at The Counselor, Kappa cut him off. "Thank you, sir." With that, she grabbed Alpha's arm and dragged him off.

Once they were out of earshot, Alpha pulled his arm free from Kappa's grip. "That Omega dude is a douchebag. He was in there, ya know. He could hear everything that we were saying."

That sparked Kappa's curiosity. The whole walk back to the rec room, she bugged him with questions about what Omega had been doing. Alpha answered them to the best of his ability. He mostly complained about Omega being too chicken to even take his helmet off in front of The Director.

Apparently all of the other agents had gotten the memo, because the rec room was crowded. Gamma and Iota were loudly arguing about which Disney movie was best off to one side. Sigma was stretched out on the couch, his arms laid over Epsilon's and Theta's shoulders. Epsilon was glaring at Sigma as he talked to a blushing Theta. Eta was quietly playing on her 3DS, her tongue stuck out in concentration.

With a sigh, Alpha sat down in one of the chairs that were scattered across the room. "Delta's probably going to lose his eye," he announced, not really in the mood to try and sugarcoat the news.

Science fell across the room as they all looked over at Alpha for his reaction. Everyone knew that Alpha and Delta were best friends, despite their clashing personalities. Once he realized that all eyes were on him, Alpha continued, "We can go visit him in about an hour."

There was a collective sigh in the room as everyone started staring at the clock.


	7. Analog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They all watched the clock

Tick

Deft fingers slowly pulled a towel across ripped flesh, trying to wipe away the excess blood. The three surgeons were just as silent as the agent underneath them, but they didn't need to speak to know they were all thinking the same thing. Even if they saved Delta's eye, there would be no restoring his sight.

 

Tock

Epsilon was shaking again, his nerves on end as they approached the med bay. He couldn't do this. Theta was beside him, the teenager not saying anything but clearly watching him with concern. Epsilon couldn't do this, because if he went and told the doctors he had had a panic attack they'd want to know why and they'd want to know his triggers.

It was his own damn fault and he knew it. Epsilon let himself relax in the viewing room because it was so unusual for people to get injured during training. The explosion caught him off guard, and then seeing Delta and the blood. It had been two years since Allison died, but still every single fucking time he saw one of his teammates get hurt he only thought of her. The blood on his arms, her blonde hair matted with it, and it was all his fault, all his-

Theta caught him before he could fall, and this time Epsilon managed to keep from completely losing it. Theta was trying to talk to him, asking him questions that Epsilon couldn't quite make out when they both received a message from Kappa on their helmets. The message simply told them to meet in the rec room for news about Delta. Epsilon didn't hesitate to beg Theta to let them just go to the rec room, to visit the hospital later. Despite his better judgment Theta agreed and swore not to tell Alpha.

And worst of all, Epsilon couldn't tell if Theta was helping or hurting him by doing so.

 

Tick

Sigma was making it easy for Epsilon to forget how anxious he was. When they reached the rec room he and Theta sat down together on the couch, only to have Sigma sit between them. The older agent started hitting on Theta right off the bat, ignoring Epsilon's furious glare.

Sigma got around, none of them were denying it, but Epsilon hadn't realized he was just going to be a notch on a belt. It would have been easier to tell him no if he wasn't so damn attractive. Sigma was well built, with flawless dark skin and curly black hair. The older agent didn't mention he was only looking for one night until he was out the door leaving Epsilon feeling used and betrayed. If he didn't know better Epsilon would say Sigma made it his objective to sleep with all the top freelancers. And when Theta turned eighteen he wasted no time hitting on the youngest agent as well, much to Epsilon's displeasure.

Sigma gently draped his arms over the two agents next to him, and when he saw Theta blush Epsilon readied himself to deck the sleazy fucker. Then Alpha and Kappa walked into the room.

 

Tock

Alpha was known for being blunt, but when he announced to the room that Delta was going to loose an eye Epsilon felt sick.

 

Tick

Iota walked slowly to Alpha, her lips trembling as she tried to spit out any of the millions of questions in her head. Instead she opened her mouth and sobbed loudly. Alpha pulled her into a hug, and even though he tried to hide it Iota could see he was crying as well.

 

Tock

They all watched the clock.

 

Tick

Tock

Tick

 

Epsilon stood up suddenly, drawing the attention of the rest of the freelancers.

“You doin okay buddy?” Alpha asked. Their leader was sitting next to Iota on the leather couch in front of the t.v set. Normally the tv was only ever turned on during Grif Ball season, but it was on now to some random channel, creating background noise so the room wouldn't be so quite.

They had all taken their helmets off when they reached the rec room, but now Epsilon clipped his back on and walked out. The rest of them watched him, clearly debating if they should follow him or not. In the end it was Theta who stood up and hurried after him.

Theta entered the hall, holding his helmet at his side. He looked both ways down the hall and caught sight of something blue to his left. Before he could go after his teammate the door to the rec room opened again and Sigma stood next to him.

Theta wasn't a short person, he was six feet which Kappa reminded him regularly was ridiculous for someone his age. But standing next to Sigma, who was easily 6'6 was a frightening experience for any of them.

“Where'd he go?” Sigma asked after he looked down the hallway and saw nothing.

Theta pointed to where he had seen Epsilon and replied, “I saw him go this way, I think he's going to the bathroom or something to cool down.”

“Cool down? Was something wrong with him?” The question was innocent enough, but Theta knew Sigma was cataloging everything he said. Sigma had a habit of remembering everything about a person, like when they're birthday was, or what their fears were. Theta hadn't seen him use this trick for anything bad, but he remained weary.

“He was just-” maybe it would be better if he didn't tell Sigma about the panic attack. “Upset.”

Sigma looked down at him, before putting a hand on Theta's left shoulder. He leaned down, maybe a bit closer than he needed to be before he replied, “We're all upset.”

Theta bit his lip to keep from pointing out that is was Sigma who threw the grenade that hurt Delta. It had been an accident, but The Director hadn't helped at all by praising him for it. Then here was Sigma, talking down to him like he hadn't just hurt their friend. Theta didn't like how close he was getting, and before he could say anything stupid he pulled his helmet on.

“I'm just going to check on him,” Theta said quickly, his voice sounding hollow as his speakers came to life. Sigma backed up the second the helmet was on, removing his hand from Theta's shoulder. “You should stay in the rec room with the rest of the team.”

Sigma frowned, but turned away like Theta had suggested. The sniper waited for the door to shut behind him before taking off at a fast pace down the hall. Any other day he would have been rattled by Sigma's blatant affection, but all of Theta's focus was on a set of cobalt armor that had already gone down the hall before him.

Epsilon had looked so shaken, and the way he just ran out of the room without saying anything. Theta was suddenly worried that he should have been more forceful on insisting they go to the hospital. But Theta wasn't there when he had the attack, he didn't know how serious Epsilon's condition was. Theta slowed to a stop when it occurred to him just how little he knew about his friend,and that he didn't know the first thing about helping him out.

Theta would just have to try his best. He hurried to the bathroom door and pushed it open, listening for any sound that would give Epsilon away. To his surprise he heard one of the showers going. Epsilon hadn't gotten in a shower with his armor on did he? Theta followed the sound, and when he stepped into the locker room he saw several pieces of blue armor strewn about across the floor. Oh, uhm, maybe Epsilon wasn't in the shower with his armor on. Dang, he undressed really fast. Theta grabbed a towel from the rack and stepped into the communal shower.

The youngest agent knew exactly what he was going to find, but still gasped audibly when he saw Epsilon. His friend didn't have a single thing on, his back to the door. Theta had his helmet on, but he still closed his eyes, putting his hand over his visor. “Sorry, sorry, I -”

He paused, before cracking his fingers and looking again. Epsilon had a slim build, his skin pale was marred by a myriad of defects. There were the freckles that apparently covered his whole body, not that Theta had ever wondered about it before or anything, but there was also a number of scars as well. A round scar on his shoulder indicated a bullet wound that had long since healed. A thin stripe stretched from his rib cage to the base of his spine, and Theta couldn't even begin to think of what had caused it. There was also a number of smaller things on more sensitive areas, but Theta could feel the blood rushing to his face and looked up at the shower head instead. There was no steam, so the water was either cold or lukewarm, not that either seemed like a good solution to Epsilon's problem.

“Epsilon?” Theta asked, his voice light. Epsilon didn't react, he didn't even flinch as Theta stepped into the shower in full body armor. He remained impassive as Theta turned the water off- it was actually really cold, almost ice- and wrapped the towel around him.

“We should sit down,” Theta suggested. Still nothing.

Theta was taller than Epsilon, so picking him up was no problem at all. Picking him up and leaving the towel on? Problem. Huge problem. Epsilon finally reacted, but did little more than stare at Theta with his sharp grey eyes as the younger freelancer carried him bridal style back into the locker room. He rested his head against Theta's purple chest piece and breathed slowly. His hair was naturally black, but he had dyed it white of all colors since Theta saw it last. He had an undercut, the left side was shaved down to his scalp while the rest of his hair was slicked down over his face. A thin scar ran across his right cheek. Theta remembered him getting that one. Epsilon had taken a bullet for Alpha, it shattered his visor but only scraped his cheek. He had been lucky.

Theta set him back down on the floor, and checked that the towel was still in place before sitting down next to him, careful not to touch him.

They were silent for several minutes, Theta humming a small tune to himself and swaying his toes to the beat. Epsilon tried to say something, anything, but after several minutes all he managed was to pull his knees to his chest and wrap his arms around them.

Epsilon mumbled something under his breath, so low Theta couldn't make it out.

“Are you-” Theta started.

“Why are you doing this? I should be alone right now,” Epsilon said again, a bit louder this time. He looked up at Theta, his lip quivering.

Theta took off his helmet, setting it neatly next to him before looking back at Epsilon. “I disagree,” he replied quietly. “Have I ever told you about my trip to India? I was born in the states, but that's where my parents were from. We were visiting family and-”

Theta continued to talk, not saying anything of too much importance, but that didn't really matter. He kept his tone even and low, and Epsilon found it was easier to relax when there was someone next to him. He pulled the towel close around him, and leaned his head back against the lockers. Epsilon closed his eyes and let the soothing voice float over him, neither of them moving until time was up.

 

Tock

Tick

Tock

 

Iota was the first one on her feet when the hour was up, she brushed a few strands of blonde hair out of her face and looked down expectantly at Alpha. He stared back at her, a question forming on his lips when she spoke, “well? It's been an hour can we see him?”

Alpha ruffled a hand through his hair. Some of them believed he didn't actually style it, just played with it when he was nervous until his dark locks fell into their familiar jagged shape. “Actually, I was told to wait for a message from The Counselor, and that it would be about an hour,” he admitted.

Iota glanced to her sister. The dark haired twin had taken to playing a card game with Kappa and Sigma. Gamma had asked to join earlier, but since his life motto was something along the lines of “if you're not cheating you're not playing it right” they promptly rejected him. Eta set her hand down and stared back at Iota. They were pretty good about sensing the other's mood, and it was pretty obvious Iota was about to go to the hospital with or without Alpha's consent.

Fortunately it didn't have to come down to insubordination. Just as Eta folded and stood up Alpha heard a familiar chime which meant he had a new message on his helmet's com system. He quickly clipped it on and waved his hand for silence.

“Alright, looks like they're ready for us. We probably shouldn't go all at once, you guys remember last time?” Alpha stood up and stretched.

The twins looked guiltily at each other. Last time Eta had been injured Iota insisted they all be there when she woke up. The end result was two blown loud speakers, security getting called on them(even though they pretty much were security, calling for additional guards was maybe not The Counselor's best idea) an apple pie eating contest, and a chicken getting lost in the air vents. For the first three weeks after the event Alpha heard lonely clucking while he was trying to get to sleep and it was quite possibly the worst time period of his life.

Iota raised her hand without thinking. “I'm going,” She said, leaving no room for discussion in her tone.

“I'll message Theta and Epsilon,” Kappa offered.

Alpha nodded at her. “Well, anyone interested in going with me now, let's go ahead and move out.”

In the end Iota, Eta, and Kappa went with him. Sigma looked like he was about to stand up, but he obviously decided against it. A wise choice in Alpha's opinion. Delta was nothing if not a rational man, but even if he knew it was an accident the last person Delta would want to see when he woke up was the man who threw the grenade. That was of course, assuming he'd even be able to see any of them.

Delta was laying in the third bed from the entrance, his armor on but his helmet off. Several bandages were wrapped around his head, covering his left eye completely. His long black hair was out of it's normal pony tail, and Alpha knew his friend would be beside himself if he knew how unkempt he looked. Delta waved weakly at them as they entered, and Iota waved back as enthusiastically as she could.

Alpha took the seat on his left, while Iota sat on his right and the other two agents hovered around him nervously. Delta's right eye was opened wide, and he had to weave his head slightly to take them all in. Iota paled at the movement.

“Why do you all look like you're attending a funeral?” Delta asked quietly, trying to smile. He winced at the motion, and without thinking his hand came up to press on the bandages lightly.

“We're all pretty worried about you D,” Alpha admitted. “How you holding up?”

“I have to say, these doctors are even more tactless than I am. The anesthesia hadn't even worn off before they were informing I wasn't going to be seeing out of my left eye anymore,” Delta replied with a slight grimace. He winced again.

Kappa made a small choking noise, and the twins looked at each other. “Damn,” cussed Alpha. “Shit, fuck I can't-”

“I guarantee that sort of language won't be necessary Alpha,” Delta said, still looking down at his friend. Even like this he had the energy to be indignant at his best friend's bed side behavior.

“It's really gone?” Iota asked, all the normal cheer gone from her voice.

In reply Delta sat up, reaching up and gripping the edge of the bandages. He unwrapped them slowly, and made a incoherent noise when he got down the the gauze hiding his ragged edges. Delta gently lifted the gauze. An angry red pattern spider webbed across his face, starting at the corner of his eye and trekking every which direction. A cut split his eye brow in half, while the rest went down, reaching the top of his cheek bones and stopping just before his ear. His eye was still there, but the iris was an eerie white.

“I'm so sorry,” Iota chirped, reaching out to cup his face. Delta flinched away from her, and the agent withdrew her hand.

Delta was his top agent, his best friend. And now he was down one eye. Alpha was struck with the overwhelming urge to scream, to shout at anyone for this. Instead he sat still and accepted that all of their numbers were going to come up, it was just a matter of when.

 

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

 

The clock would go on without them.

 


	8. Planning the heist

Theta couldn't believe he was going to be leading such an important job. He knew he could do it, but he always felt nervous when The Director put him in charge of the older agents. Which was any time he was put into a leadership position. It sucked being the youngest sometimes.

“I bet you'll do fine,” Kappa said in a way of reassurance as they filed into the room.

“Did someone say bet?” Theta actually let out a shrill squeak as one of their agents appeared behind him. Kappa started, but otherwise seemed unaffected by Lambda's sudden appearance. “Because you know I love helping people settle their bets.”

Lambda was usually the most cheerful of the freelancers, right next to Iota. The only difference is while she seemed genuine, Theta constantly felt like Lambda's happy aura masked something a whole lot darker. Despite the dark blue freelancer's low ranking of ten, Theta knew to avoid Lambda at all costs.

“Not a real bet Lambda, it was just an expression,” Kappa informed him as they got in line.

“Oh drat,” Lambda snapped his fingers and went to stand next to their pilot, 479er. They all fell silent as they waited for their directions.

In the next room The Director stood stock still, just like he usually did while he was in these sort of meetings. A small blue figure flickered in front of him, wearing the armor he never could. The hologram shifted as it finished running a program. “Okay,” He spoke up suddenly, looking at The Director. “Well I just ran everything again, all calculations are up to date, taking into account standard delays from communications and response time. Our window looks good!” The Ai added cheerfully.

“I agree,” The Director gave a small nod of his head.

“Well you should,” The hologram responded with a sarcastic tone. “I'm sure you'd make the same calculations I did, you know just, more slowly.”

The Director scowled. “Arrogance is a rather unbecoming trait Delaware.”

“Are you...?” Delaware stuttered, “seriously giving me a lecture on arrogance right now? Pfft- oh heads up you have a visitor.”

The Director made sure to keep his body rigid, to hide the program in front of him as he glanced over his shoulder. Alpha stepped into the room, his white helmet held high. “Director?” The man asked.

“Log off,” The Director commanded through gritted teeth.

“Yeah yeah, way ahead of you buddy.”

There was a tiny blue flash and the hologram was gone.

“Yes, Agent Alpha,” The Director said in quite possibly the warmest tone he had. He turned to face his top agent, his hands folded neatly behind his back.

“The team is ready sir,” Alpha responded, standing at attention.

“Excellent,” The Director nodded. He brushed past Alpha and into the meeting room. “Let us begin.”

Eight of the top ten agents stood around the table, each in varying states of eagerness. Theta was leaning over the table, trying to take in his entire half of the mission, and before he went to get the Director Alpha had been doing the same thing. The two missing agents were sitting in the med bay on the other side of the Mother of Invention. Delta was still out from his eye injury, and Iota had sprained her ankle during a routine practice run that morning and would have to skip the mission. Though their absences would be noticed, it would not be impossible without them.

“Agents, your mission today is by far the most important you have undertaken to date,” He began, stepping in front of the holographic table that was displaying the mission objective. It was currently resting at it's default display, a projection of the planet they would be landing on shorty. “As our number one Alpha will be leading from the field.”

Alpha stepped around the table to the keyboard. He wondered briefly what Omega's ranking would be when he joined them on missions, before shaking the thought from his head and hitting several buttons on the table. The hologram zoomed in “Okay, here's what we have. As you may have heard there is suspected Insurrection activity in this area.” He noticed Kappa twitch when he said the name, and filed the reaction away. “Our intel says that members of the UNSC loyal to the Insurrection have acquired a high level asset and are holding it in this secure location.”

He hit a second button and the table in front of them changed to a cityscape. One building stood out above the rest, tall enough to eclipse Alpha's height even though it was just a scale model. “It's a hundred and ten story building in the middle of an urban environment.”

“What does security look like?” Gamma spoke up suddenly in his bored drawl.

Alpha glared at him. “They have enough troops to fill a hundred and ten story building.”

“A lot of security,” Gamma nodded.

“Look at me, we fuckin got this,” Alpha snarked. The Director glared at him, and Alpha cleared his throat before continuing. "Our job is to infiltrate the building, work our way up to the floor where the Sarcophagus is being held, and secure it.”

“The Sarcophagus?” Theta repeated, finally leaning away from the table. 

“That is what we are calling the primary target,” The Director said curtly. 

“But since this is a high level asset we need to access a key code to open the Sarcophagus.” Alpha continued. 

“I'm guessing they don't just keep that taped to the side?” Epsilon asked with a sigh. 

“It's held by an official of the program who will be moving in a vehicle along the freeway between inspections. That's when we'll hit the facility. We need to acquire both targets within minutes of each other. If we fail that, the remaining target will enter lockdown and we miss our window,” Alpha confirmed. The hologram changed to include a freeway, and a number of cars drove across it. The one they would have to get was flashing red, with an image of the target's face hovering over it. It was kinda creepy, but Alpha just watched it go. 

“We will not have another chance at this,” added the Director in a serious tone. 

“So that means two teams?” Epsilon asked.

Theta had been told before hand he was going to be a team leader, but he hadn't realized no one else knew. Before he could speak up Alpha continued, “Two teams,” their leader confirmed. “Team A will consist of me, Epsilon, and Sigma.”

Sigma made an acknowledging grunt, Epsilon just gave a displeased  _ tch _ .

“We will work infiltration on the package's storage facility. Delta is still in the infirmary so Epsilon, you will have to pull lockpicking duty.”

Epsilon glanced at the board behind him. The world was a cruel place when you got injured, Delta had dropped from second place to sixth since he lost his eye. “Uhm, okay, I guess I'll just reread my field manual in the transport.” 

Before he finished his sentence the door to the briefing room opened and a familiar set of bright green armor stepped in. Delta held himself no differently than normal, and returned the stares that the rest of the team were throwing his way as he approached the table. “You do not need to concern yourself with doing my job Agent Epsilon,” Delta said dryly. 

“Delta?” Epsilon gasped.

Alpha pulled himself away from the table to approach his friend. “I thought you were in the hospital!” He cried, more ecstatic than upset. Hey, Delta was up and that was a good thing in his book. 

Delta coughed into his hand. “Well, according to their records I am,” He admitted. Epsilon looked scandalized, it was very against Delta to break regulations. 

“How's your eye?” Alpha asked.

“It is doing fine Thank you Alpha. The doctors were going to let me out tomorrow.”

Epsilon tiled his head suspiciously. “Tomorrow huh?”

Delta held his hands up in a defensive gesture. “I understand that what I'm doing is against protocol, but this is one of the most important missions we've ever been on and I was not going to deprive you of your way in for something so trivial as loosing an eye.” Delta had never been vindictive, but Epsilon noticed he threw an accusing glance at Sigma as he spoke. The older agent just shrugged.

Epsilon walked up to Alpha, knowing damn well he didn't have room to speak given his condition. Still, thanks to Theta he had been doing better, and he knew he could handle this. Delta? Delta's injuries were physical and could affect his performance. “Listen, I'm happy to see him too, but this job, I don't know...” He started weakly.

“Hey,” Alpha snapped, “If Delta says he's good, then he's good.”

Epsilon gritted his teeth. He knew he should argue, but Alpha could be stubborn when he wanted to be, especially when it came to Delta. “It's your call boss,” Epsilon muttered, before both of them turned back to the table.

Alpha came to stand next to Delta. “You're good right?” He whispered under his breath.

“Good? Saying I'm doing good may be an oversell of my current condition,” Delta whispered back.

“It's settled then,” The Director announced, making the rest of them jump back to attention. “Delta will join team A and get them in the facility.”

“Thank you sir,” Delta nodded slightly.

“Transport will be two lightly equipped Pelican dropships.“ Alpha said, finally getting back to the mission.  
“We're rigged for fast running only people, no heavy armaments.” 479er added seriously. 

“Team B will consist of Theta, Gamma, Eta and Kappa. You will act as recon for Team A and once we enter the building, you will disengage to attack the target on the freeway. Theta will lead Team B.”

“Got it,” Theta nodded nervously. 

“Where's our new recruit?” Kappa asked suddenly, voicing the question even Alpha hadn't dared to ask. “Will he be joining us?”

“We do not have time for frivolous questions Kappa,” The Director said coldly.

“Notice he didn't say no,” Kappa whispered to Epsilon.

“Team B should be simple. Stop the vehicle, and grab the case. Team A, you have more of a challenge. Mainly, the Sarcophagus is an unknown.” Alpha added.

“How unknown are we talking here?” Epsilon sighed. “Like we don't know how big it is? What it looks like? What it weighs?”

“Yes,” Alpha nodded.

“Yes? To what?”

“All of it, we know nothing about the objective other than the fact that it will have these markings somewhere on it's exterior,” Alpha pulled up an image on the table, wiping away the city scape. The new hologram was a set of three circles, divided by thin lines. Each circle had a different logo in it, and Alpha had no idea what any of them meant.

“Hey I know this! I saw it on the oil platform!” Theta exclaimed suddenly.

“Correct,” The Director nodded. “That facility created the primary objective.”

“Do we know what's inside?” Epsilon asked curiously.

“Yes, we know” was the only reply he got. 

Kappa snorted. “How do we know what's in it but not know how big it is?” She cut off when she saw the look The Director was giving her. “Sorry sir.” 

“We have a job to do people, let's do it right and all come home safe,” Alpha commanded, pulling down the image. 

“That is all, you are dismissed,” The Director finished for him, taking a step away from the table. 

The gathered freelancers stood at attention one last time, chorusing “Yes sir!” before stepping away from the table. 

It was time for the real games to begin. 

 


	9. The Sarcophagus pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team A entered their assigned floor together, stepping off the elevator with their weapons raised. The guard schedule had said that nobody would be up here at this time, but you could never be too careful. Once they were all sure that the sector was empty, they relaxed. Epsilon and Sigma stood by, keeping their guns in their hands, just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((sorry about the lack of updates, between trying to plan this chapter out and the holidays it's been crazy for us))

Theta tapped his foot nervously on the floor of the bird they were in, pelican b. Up front their stern pilot, a man who went by the call name 413 ( pronounced fo-wer one tree) was talking quietly with his temporary copilot, Eta. She would go with them on the mission, but in order to maneuver he need a little assistance and Eta was the one who had the most flight experience. Theta himself had only flown a plane once, and that was only in training. It had terrified him, being in control of a several ton metal death machine, and he had not done it since.

Kappa was silent next to him, her knife out in her hand. She flipped it over and over again, and to anyone else she would have appeared to be nervous. Instead she was frighteningly calm. Kappa had vowed when she went undercover to do whatever it took,and if she had to screw over the only person in project freelancer who didn’t deserve it so be it. But for some reason she couldn’t look at Theta.

In the center of the bird was a warthog,which they were going to drop on the freeway, with the four of them inside. They were going to touch down several hundred yards away from the target to avoid alerting their mark to their presence, and then catch up on the road. It seemed like a good idea until Theta thought about the fact that he was about to be dropped from a pelican onto a freeway. In a car.

“Well this is going to be exciting,” Gamma droned. He had that grating sort of voice, almost like the default voice of a computer speech program. That, and his habitual need to lie made him a difficult person to get along with.

“It’s not supposed to be exciting, it’s a job,” Theta sighed.

“Those things aren’t mutually exclusive,” Kappa pointed out, finally looking at her team leader.

“I would prefer this be a nice easy job, with no incidents, and no excitement,” Theta shrugged. He continued to tap his foot until Kappa put her hand on his knee forcing him to stop. He started tapping the other foot instead.

“Now that would be boring,” Gamma shook his head. His armor was light blue, making him the third of the top ten a gents to have blue armor. Popular color for some reason.

Theta looked at him, and considered arguing but quickly lost the nerve for it. Arguing with Gamma wouldn't make him any less nervous. Instead he went back to tapping his foot and waiting for Eta to let him know when they would drop.

 

~*~

 

Team A entered their assigned floor together, stepping off the elevator with their weapons raised. The guard schedule had said that nobody would be up here at this time, but you could never be too careful. Once they were all sure that the sector was empty, they relaxed. Epsilon and Sigma stood by, keeping their guns in their hands, just in case.

Alpha and Delta stepped up to the large door that blocked off their access to the vault. Alpha reached out to the door and a glowing projection appeared. He took a step back and looked over at Delta expectantly.

"Delta, you’re up. How long will it take you to crack that lock?" Alpha gestured to the projection.

Delta stepped up to the lock and crouched down in front of it. He positioned his hands like he was about to touch something, but instead he looked over at Alpha. “I predict about one minute for a regular human being, but I can do it in fifteen seconds,” Delta told him, an air of confidence in his voice. After a pause where Alpha didn’t respond, Delta turned back to the glowing blue lock in front of him. He hummed slightly, setting off the rest of the team’s nerves. Delta only hummed when he was deep in thought. Picking a lock like this should be simple to him. “A holographic lock, that is very impressive,” Delta mused.

"Can you get through it, Delta?" Alpha asked his best friend, only sounding a bit concerned.

"Of course, Agent Alpha." Delta gave Alpha a nod of assurance. His hands started moving swiftly over the holographic projection, sliding and rotating pieces of the intricate lock. Delta hummed again and thoughtfully muttered, "The person that designed this is a genius."

The lock flashed and a moment later, red lights started flashing. The sound of a distant alarm picked up. All of the agents looked up at the ceiling in surprise, then back down at Delta, who seemed almost confused. When he noticed everyone staring at him, he shook his head. “That was not me.”

Alpha looked back at Sigma and Epsilon, who were both slowly inching away from one of the several computers. When they noticed their leader’s cold glare, the two agents instantly pointed at each other.

Alpha all but flipped them off when he asked, “Really? How old are you two?”

Delta made a slightly frustrated noise at his teammates and shook his head at them, like they had somehow offended him. A second later, he leaned away from the lock and loudly announced, “Picked.”

The big, heavy doors slid open dramatically once Delta had finished talking.

"Everybody in," Delta ushered. Epsilon and Sigma rushed into the huge room that had been revealed seconds earlier. The place was huge, with a ceiling tall enough to accommodate several hanging planes. Dozens of weapons and armor units had been placed on display all throughout the room. A window made up the back wall, giving them an amazing view of the city below them. The building they were in towered above the all of the others, yet all of Team A still felt small compared to their surroundings.

"Thanks Delta, but could ya do something about that alarm system? I don’t feel like getting any unwanted guests." Alpha gestured to the alarm lights that surrounded them, bathing their armor in red.

"Would apologizing for Epsilon and Sigma be sufficient?" Delta asked with a shrug.

Alpha snorted. “You fucking wish.”

With a deep sigh, Delta said, “Alright, I will find a solution.”

Just as Alpha was about to join Epsilon and Sigma in the room, he turned to Delta one last time to give him a set of instructions. “We’ll get the package. Set us some trackers and then find us a way out of this fucking mess.”

Delta nodded and in a very professional tone said, “Moving.” Before taking off down the hall and disappearing from sight.

~*~

“One minute til drop,” Eta said over the intercom, and the door opened to let her in. She stood in the doorway for a moment, surveying the rest of her team. Theta was staring at her, perched on the edge of his seat. Kappa was looking at her knife again, and Gamma was the only one actually taking his harness off to get in the car.

“Alright team,” Theta said from his seat. “Easy mark, get the car when Alpha gives the signal, and take the suitcase. No big. We’ll be back in moi in time for taco night.”

“How inspiring,” Kappa snickered.

The four of them loaded their equipment into the jeep, before taking their places. Gamma manned the turret, kappa as his cover. Theta sat in the front seat, next to Eta who looked annoyed with the arrangement. “I understand being copilot, but seriously none of you can drive this thing?”

“I actually don’t have a license?” Theta supplied.

Kappa shrugged and looked expectantly at Gamma. He tapped the gun in front of him before replying, “I prefer tanks.”

“Jesusfuck whatever,” Eta turned her attention back to the wheel as their pilot came over the intercom.

“We’re clear to drop, I even found you a place with light traffic,” 413 informed them smugly.

“Thanks,” Theta called.

“Opening hatch.”

~*~

Unknown to Team A, the alarm flashed all the way down to the security room. The Guard Captain had been sitting there, watching the screens in boredom, when an alert popped up on his computer. After a moment of confusion, he turned to one of his teammates and gave a few instructions of his own. “What the- looks like we got an alert on sector seven. That’s the vault. Take a team up there now.”

Back in the vault, Epsilon and Sigma looked expectantly at Alpha, waiting for orders. With a mission like this, you would always want to listen to your team leader. Alpha glanced around the huge room before deciding on a plan of action.

"Alright we’ll need to spread out. The Sarcophagus is in here somewhere, but it’ll probably be something small and really fucking easy to miss. The Director says to take as many scans as possible, there may be other things here that we can use. Like one of those kickass planes," Alpha snorted. After a stare from Epsilon, he sighed, "Don’t look at me like that, I’m fucking kidding. Jesus, lighten up."

"Look at you like what? I’m wearing a helmet, you can’t see my face!" Epsilon argued indignantly. Alpha shook his head at the other Freelancer and wandered off.

Epsilon sighed heavily and started running scans. He watched as Sigma lifted up a huge weapon that was a mix between a rifle and a knife. Epsilon whistled as the blade caught the sunlight, making Sigma look ten times more scary.

"What do you think?" Sigma asked as he hefted the weapon up.

Epsilon tilted his head to the side before deciding, “That’s a good look.”

Sigma nodded his head, showing that he was happy with Epsilon’s approval.

Suddenly, Alpha was distracted by Delta’s voice crackling over the radio. “Alpha, motion trackers indicate that an enemy team is outside the door.”

Sighing in exasperation, Alpha glanced over at the doors as if he would see their enemies standing there. “Fucking great. Well, we just have to hope they’re not as good at picking locks as you are, Delta.” Alpha switched off his radio and announced, “Get ready team, we’re about to have company.”

Epsilon jogged up to Alpha, his battle rifle gripped in his hands. “Boss, I have good news, and bad news.”

"Hit me," Alpha turned to Epsilon, his hands on his hips.

Epsilon seemed hesitant to tell him, but he shrugged it off. “We found the markings we’re looking for. The bad news is, they’re on that.”

The two of them looked over at what Epsilon was referring to. It was a huge, metal crate that likely weighed more than any of them could lift. The top of the Sarcophagus was wider than the bottom, making it an awkward shape. The markings from the oil platform decorated the sides like tattoos. A keypad on the side blinked at them, indicating the need for a passcode to be able to open the case. Sigma stood next to it, his body language conveying confusion. All of them were silent for a moment as Alpha processed this information.

Alpha’s jaw fell open as he stared at their mission objective. “That? How the hell are we supposed to transport that? It’s fucking huge!”

"Team A, I have found us an exit up on the roof. Go straight up the stairwell, take the door to the roof, and you will find a helipad," Delta interrupted Alpha’s disbelief.

"Copy that. I’ll radio 479er for air support," Alpha answered, slightly distracted. He motioned to his teammates. "Now, how are we going to get that fucking thing up to the roof?"

Sigma just shrugged and made an I-Don’t-Know sound in response. Epsilon stayed quiet, watching Alpha as he thought of a plan.

Luckily enough, Alpha was able to come up with one. He talked into his radio and walked toward the Sarcophagus. “Delta, I saw a window washing unit when we came into the facility. Can you find where it attaches to the building?”

Up on the roof, Delta looked to his right to see the window washing unit. He smiled to himself, then told Alpha, “I am not sure, that is a difficult question. Allow me to see what I can do.”

Epsilon quizzically tilted his head to the side at Alpha. ” Oh, man. What are you up to, Alpha?”

"Improvising. Come here, Sigma," Alpha smirked at Sigma. He was about to get payback for what happened to Delta’s eye.

"Improvising? I fucking hate it when we do that," Epsilon groaned loudly.

A shower of sparks flew up from the door as the window washing unit was lowered to their level. Sigma, Epsilon, and Alpha all had to push with all of their strength to get the Sarcophagus to the window. Epsilon smashed the window while Sigma and Alpha struggled to get the crate onto the washing unit. Then, Alpha worked on attaching a cable to Sigma.

The guards started to make decent progress on cutting through the doors and Epsilon kept nervously glancing over at the slowly moving flame. “You two better hurry!” Epsilon warned them as the guards started to finish up on the doors.

"Sig, this should work fine. You’re the only one heavy enough to counter-balance the Sarcophagus," Alpha tried to reassure the skittish looking Sigma.

Sigma looked over the ledge and stared down to the ground. He took a couple of steps back and frantically shook his head at Alpha. “I hate to tell you this, Agent Alpha, but this is too high.”

Alpha just snorted. “Oh, don’t be a baby.”

With that, Alpha kicked Sigma out of the window. Epsilon made a small noise of alarm and Sigma grunted in panic. Alpha easily shot a cable and the window washing platform flew up as Sigma shot down.

~*~

  
Eta started the car, and if they could see into her helmet the rest of her team would have been terrified of the maniac grin she was wearing. “Let’s get this bitch started!”

The car dropped nearly fifteen feet onto the highway, the shocks shouting in protest as they worked to keep the team up. Eta had hit the gas pretty hard as they exited the bird, but she absolutely gunned it now. Cars honked at them, but since none of them were crashing Theta guessed air drops weren’t too uncommon in these parts. It was a military town after all.

Eta drove quickly along the red way, swerving in and out of traffic and generally pissing of the populace. “How far ahead is the target?”

Theta checked the map he had downloaded to his helmet. “We have about a mile to go, but remember, we’re just supposed to get within a hundred feet and hang back. We can’t get him until Alpha has confirmed they have the sarcophagus,” the teen replied.

“Oh good, I love waiting,” Eta started sarcastically, but before she could add anything else Gamma swung suddenly on his post.

“We have incoming!” He shouted, a tad unnecessarily as he was already firing into incoming traffic. Four dark vehicles moved in unison, easily jumping the median and pulling alongside team b. Gamma shot the front tire of the closest one, and it spun out, hitting the rail way with a solid crash.

“You were supposed to be watching for this shit Kappa!” Eta screeched, swerving to avoid being rammed by one of the cars.

“I was watching our ass, I didn’t think they’d be coming from your direction!” Kappa shouted back, a battle rifle in her hands. Her knives wouldn’t be as useful this sort of situation and she knew it. Kappa hadn't been a part of this, how had they been found out so quickly?

~*~ 

On his way down, Sigma dropped past an occupied window. He couldn’t help the noises of terror that he let out as he passed a guard station.

One guard turned to his patrol buddy once Sigma had passed them. “Hey, did you just hear that noise?”

"Probably the sound of you being an idiot." His friend rolled his eyes in annoyance.

The first guard scowled. “Oh, you’re probably right. Dick biscuit.”

By the time they were done with their conversation, Sigma reached the bottom floor and he landed heavily. A group of terrified guards tried to surround him, their guns aimed at him hesitantly. A grin curled over Sigma’s lips and he nodded at them cheerfully. “Good morning. Nice day out, isn’t it?” The sarcasm dropped from his words. A couple of guards took a few steps back as Sigma drew his brand new Brute Shot.

The leader of the group finally spoke up. “Stop right there or we’ll… shoot? We’re gonna need bigger handguns. Is- is that a knife? Rifle? Knifle?”

Their screams soon filled the air.

When Sigma had reached the bottom floor, the Sarcophagus flew up onto the roof and somehow, everything went according to plan.

"Package has arrived," Delta told the rest of the team.

Alpha stared down at the ground, as if he could see Sigma destroying all of the guards from up there. “Well, that oughta buy us some time,” he said, almost smugly,

Epsilon shuddered at the thought of Sigma fighting. “I almost feel bad for the people down there.”

The two of them turned to face the door, which the guards had almost broken through. Alpha drew his guns while Epsilon kneeled down next to him and carefully aimed his battle rifle. Epsilon’s heart raced, but he thought that he would be far enough away to avoid seeing much blood.

Alpha’s voice was cold as he braced himself. “Don’t feel bad for them.”

"What? I said almost."

~*~

Theta pulled out his sniper rifle from where it was hidden in the backseat and aimed at the closest of the black vans. The shot dented the windshield, but failed to break it. Eta cussed loudly as Theta sat back down. “They were expecting us.”

“Ya think?!” Eta shouted furiously. She pulled violently on the wheel, ramming an innocent sedan that had been driving next to them. The car hit its breaks suddenly, and as Theta watched the car collided with one of the vans.

“Eta!” He yelped, “we are not here to kill civilians!”

“Rather them than us,” Kappa pointed out, shooting uselessly at one of the two remaining vans.

“No! We should not be putting innocent people at risk, you do not ever do that again!” He shouted at Eta. The woman shrugged in reply, as if she agreed with Kappa, but didn’t say anything.

The two unsc vans that remained pulled up on both sides of their jeep, getting too close for comfort. Gamma took to shooting uselessly at the car on the right, and Theta aimed his rifle at the tires of the one on the left. He let out a triumphant shout as he popped the tire, but the joy quickly died as the window of the van rolled down and a gun went off.

Eta cussed again, swerving the car into the lane the car had occupied before Theta stopped it. Kappa screamed in pain as the bullet struck her shoulder, and she hit the turret base, knocking Gamma off balance. He swayed precariously, and Theta lunged forward to grab his ankles and keep him from falling. The last van rammed them from the left, further upsetting what little balance the group had left.

“Get us out of here!” Theta shouted at Eta as he clambered into the backseat.

Eta ignored him. “You wanna play?” She gritted her teeth as she served back at the van, sending both of them skidding into the railing.

“ETA YOU MANIAC I SAID DRIVE!” Theta screeched at her, and she finally righted the car and leaned on the gas. They shot off ahead of the van, finally giving Theta the chance to check on his team.

Gamma was sitting in backseat, holding onto the turret for his life. Theta was still leaning over the backseat,his hands on Kappas shoulder which was bleeding lightly. The shot had only scraped her, but if he were a good leader she wouldn’t have gotten shot at all.

“Hey Theta were about half a mile to the target!” Eta shouted, daring to look behind her. They were going about 100 mph in a 55 zone, the last thing they needed was the local cops trying to give them a ticket. “And closing fast!”

“Sounds great!” Theta shouted back at her without even looking up.

“And to think, you didn’t want any of this excitement,” Kappa tried to sound light as he brushed bio foam over her injury. It stung like a bitch, and she couldn’t help but whimper.

“Hey Theta! Knock knock,” Gamma said suddenly.

“Are you kidding me right now?” Eta shouted at him from the front seat.

“Well since none of you are answering, it’s the unsc,” Gamma said, pointing to the road behind them. The last van, it’s left headlight out after its brush with Eta, was back, two fresh new vans in tow.

“Wow, these guys can go ahead and fuck right off,” Eta commented. Theta stared helplessly, this mission had gone from bad to awful real quick. He could only hope Alpha was doing better.

 


	10. The Sarcophagus pt 2

 

It was then that the doors crashed open. Actually, they flew off of their hinges completely. The two heavy doors narrowly missed Alpha and Epsilon, but neither of them flinched. Instead, they fired into the group of guards and all of them fell dead within seconds. Epsilon stood up and they both were about to move, when Alpha noticed something. A figure was standing just past the line of dead guards.

One soldier was left standing amongst his dead buddies. Smoke and dust had masked him, but now it had cleared away to reveal a heavily armored Insurrectionist. He was carrying a flame thrower and a painted shark grinned at them from his helmet.

There was a brief pause as the two Freelancers stared at him in surprise. Then, Epsilon shot Alpha a confused look and said, “The fuck is with this guy?”

That was when a burst of flame was fired at the two of them.

~*~

This time the two side vans didn’t wait to get close enough to ram the jeep. The two new vans opened up and armored men leaned out to take a shot at them. As it turned out Theta with his rifle was a faster draw than any of the new soldiers. The teenager took out three of them before they could get a single shot out, his legs still dangling in the front seat next to Eta. He was in the process of aiming at a fourth enemy when Eta jerked the car suddenly beneath him. The shot went wide, uselessly striking the open van door. Theta had been focusing on his targets and had taken his hands from the car, so when she swerved suddenly he didn’t just lose his target, he lost his balance, rolling dangerously close to the edge of the seat. 

Kappa lunged forward, grabbing the larger agent by his arms and keeping him in the car while Eta screamed the front seat, “we got more from this way!”

“Gamma!” Theta commanded from where he was trying not to fall out of the damn jeep, “get that turret going!” 

Gamma nodded, standing back up and aiming at the unsc ship that was hovering above them. Theta grabbed the rifle he had dropped in the backseat and propped himself back up. Clearly the team leader learned nothing from the last time. He aimed carefully at the damaged hood of the middle can and fired.

The engine went up with roar,the entire van exploding violently. The two vans next to it came to a screeching halt as Eta sped on.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Gamma commented as he fired uselessly at the bird above him.

“Now?” Theta shouted back. “Just now this is getting ridiculous? Not several minutes ago when four vans showed up?”

“Oh hey,isn’t that the mark?” Eta asked, pointing at a back sports car several lengths in front of them.

“Well shit,” Kappa groaned.

“Pull back!” Theta shouted at her. 

“What?!” Eta asked, “we could get him!” 

“We’re not supposed to! Not until I get the message from Alpha!” Theta shouted back, “pull back or we risk scaring him off!”

“We haven’t already done that?! We’ve blown up no less than three vans, and have a god damn BIRD hovering twenty feet above us if you didn’t notice,” Eta pointed out. 

“Does he have headphones in?” Gamma wondered.

Theta stood up to reply when something hit him hard from above. Theta collapsed into the front seat, someone on top of him, holding him down. The teen made a small choking noise in fright. Someone had just jumped from the pelican onto their car.

~*~

 

Alpha ducked out of the way while Epsilon leaped to the side. Alpha quickly found cover behind one of the display stands and trusted that his teammate had managed to get out of the way as well.

"Whoa that’s hot!" Epsilon cried from across the room. The sound of gunfire filled everyone’s ears as Epsilon relentlessly shot at Sharkface. The bullets just pinged off his armor and he continued on like they were nothing. Epsilon fell to the ground as another spurt of flame was fired at him, his cobalt armor crashing against the floor.

As a quick distraction, Epsilon managed to toss a grenade at Sharkface. The Insurrectionist somehow used the flamethrower to detonate it midair. Epsilon barely had time to curse loudly at the soldier before he needed to duck for cover once again.

The column of flame swept across the room toward Alpha, who was confident that he could do better than Epsilon. He leapt up from behind his cover once the flame had passed him. Alpha carefully aimed his pistol at Sharkface and smirked, “Got ya- what?” He was cut off by one of the weapons that rested on the display he had hidden behind. It sparked loudly and Alpha tried to shake it off.

He tried to fire his pistol, but the gun in front of him shorted. It exploded with a shower of green sparks, sending Alpha flying backwards. “Fuck!” He cried out as he tumbled to the floor.

Another one of the weapons that had been on that display was thrown out into the middle of the room. Epsilon glanced at it, then back at Sharkface. When Sharkface went out his next burst of flame, Epsilon ran and leaped over it, somersaulting to the ground and grabbing the new gun. He was able to quickly aim it at the ground near Sharkface. Epsilon pulled the trigger, hoping for some kind of awesome explosion that would knock Sharkface away from them.

Instead, the green laser bounced off of the ground near Sharkface’s feet and flew to the wall behind him, where it exploded. Epsilon stared at the gun in his hand in exasperation. “What the hell? It fucking bounces!? Who the fuck designs a gun that bounces? This is the worst gun ever. Of all-“

Before Epsilon could finish his sentence, Alpha tackled him to the ground and out of the way of another row of flames.

"Dude, you’re a fucking idiot. Could you just stay low for like, ten seconds?" Alpha rolled his eyes, then turned away from Epsilon. He had finally come up with a plan.

~*~

The weight was lifted off of him just as quickly as it landed there, and when theta sat up he saw the body being tossed from the car,one of Kappa's knives sticking out of his throat.

“Pae!” Kappa shouted, holding another knife in the air in case the first one didn't do the trick. “Are you okay?!”

“What did we say about names during missions!?” Theta shouted back. He grabbed Eta's battle rifle from where it was sitting next to her and aimed it directly above them. Where Gamma had failed to deter the ship, Theta immediately killed two more soldiers who were about to drop. The ship lifted even higher, and sped ahead of them.

“Shit,” said Eta in a small voice.

The ship swiveled in a pin point movement Theta had only ever seen 479er accomplish and dropped one more soldier to the ground a mere hundred feet in front of them. The man hit the freeway like a ton of bricks, fracturing the concrete. He wore UNSC armor, but it was modified in only the way an insurrectionist would do. It was painted a maroon red, with a nasty looking set of teeth painted onto the helmet. He also had a set of intimidating spikes attached up and down his left arm. Cars swerved around him, and he paid them no mind, staring down the Freelancers as they approached.

Theta lifted the battle rifle but Eta waved him off. “I got this,” She said urgently, staring intently at the road and hitting the gas.

“This is not going to end well!” Gamma shouted.

“I could just shoot him, that would probably be so much faster. And less crashy,” Kappa added.

“Look he doesn't have a gun-” Eta started before the man moved, showing a large black device in his hand.

“Welp,” was the only thing Theta could get out before the man slammed the ground with the EMP device, sending out a shock wave through the traffic. The rest of the cars slowed to a halt as their electrical systems all went offline, and the freelancer vehicle was no different. Gamma's turret made a low humming noise as it shut down, pointing down at the floor like it was upset to have been defeated. They rolled to a stop ten feet from the man, who was pulling out what appeared to be a RPG from behind his back.

“Fuck,” Said Gamma before Theta yelled at his team to abandon the car.

~*~

 

Using his speed unit, Alpha raced across the room, easily dodging the fire that licked at his ankles. Once he reached the wall, Alpha didn’t stop. Instead, he ran up the wall and leaped onto one of the several suspended aircrafts.

To get Sharkface’s attention, Alpha fired a few shots at him. He knew that they wouldn’t do any damage to the bulky soldier, but he wanted to have Sharkface return fire.

Epsilon watched as Sharkface sent a burst of flame up to the plane that Alpha was balanced on. He sucked in a nervous breath as Alpha easily dodged it by ducking behind the plane’s wing. The ropes that kept the aircraft in the air had caught on fire, but Alpha seemed to feel at ease with the way he casually clipped a piece of C4 to the side. With that, he backflipped off of the plane and Epsilon finally understood what he was doing.

As Alpha fell, the plane detached from the ceiling. The C4 exploded and sent the plane flying toward Sharkface. Both Alpha and Epsilon had a twisted sense of satisfaction as the plane crashed into him, knocking his dumbass to the ground.

Debris flew everywhere and Alpha managed to avoid being hit as he stood up. Sharkface struggled to get up and Alpha quickly looked around for a solution to Sharkface’s consciousness. After a brief second, Alpha’s eyes landed on a gravity hammer.

By the time Sharkface had turned around to face Alpha, Alpha was already set to throw the hammer. He hurled it at Sharkface and there was a loud boom as the gravity hammer connected with his face and he was knocked to the ground. This time Sharkface didn’t get back up.

Epsilon walked up to Alpha, who was breathing slightly heavier than normal. He snorted at the fallen form of Sharkface. “That guy was a dick.”

Alpha laughed quietly, then started walking off. He motioned for Epsilon to follow him. “Come on, let’s get moving, asshole. Delta’s still waiting up on the roof.”

"Okay, but that bit with the purple plane, that was just showing off."

~*~

Eta and Gamma jumped to the left, Kappa and Theta to the right. Theta managed to land on his feet, before the UNSC soldier fired the rocket and blew up his god damn car. Theta was knocked from his feet, hit Kappa, and then continued to roll until he hit the railing hard enough to rattle his brain.

“Connie?” He asked weakly, sitting up and looking for the familiar set of brown armor.

“Fuck you,” was the instant reply from his right. “If I can't call you Pae you can't call me Connie.”

“Oh good, you're not hurt,” Theta commented weakly. He looked up and his stomach sank when he saw the Insurrectionist was headed towards them instead of Gamma or Eta. As team leader he should be glad the others were out of harms way. As a teenager he was scared senseless.

He got back to his feet before Kappa did, and quickly patted himself down for a weapon. His sniper rifle and Eta's battle rifle both were lost in the explosion, and all he had left was a back up pistol and a field knife. Not the best circumstances, but he was the best soldier and would find a way to deal. In the year and a half since he joined project freelancer he had proved he could at least do that.

~*~ 

It took the two of them about three minutes to get up on the roof. Delta was waiting by the door, ready to close it at a moment’s notice. He waved them out of the stairwell with a, “I suggest that both of you hurry.”

Once they were on the roof, Delta shorted out the access pad. He looked down on it, almost proud of his work. “There. That is sufficient. This will hold them for a small amount of time.”

Just as he finished talking, another enemy team started to cut through the door. Alpha scoffed and jogged off to the helipad.

Delta sighed in exasperation. “Maybe not.” He turned away from the door and followed in Alpha’s footsteps. Epsilon matched his pace and was lost in thought until Delta broke the silence. “It has just occurred to me that Agent Sigma is not present. Where is he?”

"Downstairs. He keeping our hosts occupied," Epsilon answered.

There was another brief silence before Delta spoke up, “I have to say that I almost feel… Bad for them.”

Epsilon nodded quickly, “That’s exactly what I said! Poor bastards.”

Ahead of them, Alpha called for backup on his radio. “Four Seven Niner, this is Team A, we‘re gonna need some evac on the roof of the tower.”

"Roger that, I’m on it," 479er responded quickly.

Delta took the lead to show them where the helipad was. “It’s over- here…”

He trailed off and came to a full stop when he noticed the fully armored figure that was leaning over a small, rectangular box. The person looked up at them, his seemingly black armor glinting in the dimming sunlight, showing the actual shade of purple that it was. Omega straightened up and came face-to-face with Alpha, who did not seem happy in the slightest.

"You? What the fuck are you doing here?" Alpha practically snarled at Omega. His gaze flicked down to the box on the ground, then back up to Omega’s emotionless helmet. "Is that a fucking bomb?" Realization suddenly dawned on Alpha. "I knew it, it was you who blew up the fucking oil platform! You’re a fucking asshole!"

Omega laughed, his cackle slightly disturbing. Epsilon took a step back and Delta nervously glanced at Alpha. Alpha somehow managed to stand his ground and continued to glower at Omega.

"Yes, it was me on the oil platform. I detonated all the bombs that I had planted earlier that day, causing an explosion bloodbath extraordinaire!" Omega stopped laughing, but his tone was still gleeful.

"That place blew up?" Epsilon looked over at Alpha, his confusion and shock glaringly obvious.

"Somebody’s been covering our tracks. You’re on the roster too but they hid your name. Why did they send you?" Alpha grit his teeth as he stared at Omega. Omega just crossed his arms as an answer.

Delta interrupted them. “I hate to break up such a meaningful reunion, but we have a big problem that will be joining us soon.”

There was a loud crash as the guards finally bust through the doors. They rushed onto the roof in numbers that had Team A taking a few steps back. Ships flew from out of nowhere and hovered above everyone’s heads, their guns undoubtably trained on the Freelancer’s backs. Getting out of this situation would be difficult.

~*~

Theta's pistol was up before the Fanged soldier could get his RPG in the air, and he fired twice, once at the man's head, the other at his hands. The insurrectionist managed to avoid the kill shot, but in his haste to protect his hands he dropped the oversized weapon. It went off as it hit the ground, firing into oncoming traffic. Another car exploded, this time a civilian sedan. Theta had no time to be upset though, Fang was already advancing, a much smaller scattershot in his hands. Where the heck was he even getting these things?!

Theta rolled out of the way as the gun went off, spraying the railing behind him. He watched as Kappa scrambled for cover, and fortunately the Insurrectionist followed Theta instead of her. The older freelancer's attention was quickly taken by the enemy vehicles that were approaching them, and Theta knew he'd be on his own for the fight.

Around them the bridge was quickly falling into chaos. Eta and Gamma had over turned a car to use as cover, because the two vans they had lost earlier had caught up, and brought reinforcements it seemed. Kappa was behind the Sedan that had been destroyed only moments before, was still actively burning. She looked worriedly from Theta to the black vans, before pulling out two more knives and looking away from her team leader.

Theta rolled back to his feet, firing off two more shots before the Insurrectionist could. The first made a tiny metallic noise as it pinged off the scattershot, the second pierced Fang's upper arm. The man grunted, and Theta took advantage of his momentary lapse to close the distance between him. Without a proper gun Theta wouldn't survive long in a ranged battle. He had to get close.

Fang staggered, trying to swing the scattershot at Theta. He wasn't even trying to shoot Theta anymore, he was apparently just trying to club the teen with the weapon. Theta used his left hand to deflect the gun, which fired harmlessly into the air, and his right to sink a punch into his enemy's ribs. Fang kicked out awkwardly as he reeled, catching Theta in the thigh.

Theta took a step back, knowing that was going to bruise later. He swung the pistol in front of him, but the insurrectionist was already back in control, swiping out and knocking the firearm from his grip. With his left arm Fang thrust forward, swinging across Theta's form. Theta was able to dodge the wide strike, but it quickly became apparent Fang had missed on purpose. Instead of making a blunt hit the solider was able to drag the spines on his arm across Theta's chest, pulling them back sharply and slicing into his chest piece along with the much softer mesh on his neck.

Theta let out a yelp as his armor cracked, taking another step back. He had avoided an serious injuries, but his suit was damaged and he could feel cold air and blood on his neck. Theta pressed a hand to his injury, raising his left hand defensively.

He heard Gamma shout something indiscernible from the other side of the bridge, and then Theta was blindsided by a car.

~*~

"Let’s go, go go now! Get into position. Completely, surround them," A man who appeared to be their leader shouted at his troops.

It didn’t take long for the group of Freelancer to be completely encircled. Epsilon hesitantly glanced over at Alpha, like he was waiting for orders. Alpha was busy trying to find a way to distract them. If he could only use his camouflage suit enhancement, then he could probably fight off some of the guards.

The guard captain started yelling at them. “No one gets behind me. Drop your weapons!”

All of the Freelancers carefully dropped their weapons. They moved slowly to avoid being shot at, just in case. Delta had started looking over at Alpha as well, wondering why their team leader hadn’t made a move yet. He noticed that his friend was slowly inching backwards, hopefully to try and help them escape from the guards.

The captain aimed his gun at Delta, who jumped at the sudden movement. “You, dickhead. Disarm the bomb.”

"I suggest that you calm down. There is no reason to be dramatic," Delta told him, then glanced down at the bomb that Omega had been setting up. "I will give it a try."

"Just fucking do it already," The guard captain shoved the gun closer to Delta, who backed away from it.

"I’m complying!" Delta hurriedly picked up the box and stared down at it. After a few seconds, he looked back up and with confusion evident in his voice said, "This is not a bomb. It’s a transmitter."

The captain sighed in relief. “Alright it’s not a bomb!” He seemed to realize something and turned back to Delta. “Wait, a transmitter, what’s it transmitting?”

Delta simply answered with, “Our location.”

There was a brief pause. “Why would it do that?” The guard captain asked, looking nervously at the small transmitter.

Before Delta could give him a response, red lasers suddenly zeroed in on the box that was still resting in Delta’s hands. Everyone took a startled step backwards. None of them wanted to be near it, just in case it was actually a bomb. Delta looked like he wanted to put the box down now.

"What the fuck?" Epsilon spat out as he inched away from the transmitter.

Alpha and Omega decided to use the distraction to their advantage. Alpha turned on his camouflage unit to blend in with the surrounding guards. Omega went invisible using his suit enhancement. Alpha almost felt like Omega was mocking him as he heard the other Freelancer simply walk past the group of guards.

It didn’t take long for the guard captain to notice. “There were four of them here. What the fuck is going on?” He exclaimed, raising his gun and pointing it directly at Delta.

Alpha appeared as soon as Delta was threatened. The guard’s colors melted off his armor, leaving the slightly grimy original white behind. Alpha kicked down the two nearest soldiers with ease. All attention was immediately directed to him.

Omega started rushing through the crowd of guards as well. He was only a faint outline that could be traced by the fallen soldiers that moaned in pain on the ground. Epsilon also took the chance to start firing at anyone who came towards him.

With this many Freelancers, the guards didn’t stand a chance.

"What did I say, I said one thing?! Keep them in front of me," the guard captain stared at his falling soldiers with growing unease.

Delta looked down at the transmitter that was still in his hands. He needed to get rid of it. So, he cleared his throat. “Excuse me, would you mind holding this for me for a brief moment?” Before he had time to get an answer, Delta handed the transmitter to the guard captain, who looked at it with confusion. Delta couldn’t help but smirk. “Thank you.”

As the guard captain looked around and realized he was the only one still standing, Delta raced off. He was starting to get an idea of The Director’s plan and if he were correct, none of them wanted to be near the transmitter right now.

There was a flash of yellow light in the air just before the impact. Then, there was a blast that shook the ground underneath their feet.

The shot had punched a whole through the middle of the building. Everyone was thrown back by the force of the blast, barely able to keep standing. They didn’t have time to gawk at the huge hole in the building. It was starting to all fall apart now.

Omega quickly snatched a jetpack off of a fallen soldier’s body and strapped it onto his own back. With one swift movement, he kicked the Sarcophagus with enough force to push it off of the roof. He soon followed after the package, but not before giving Alpha a smug wave.

Alpha barely had time to register the insult before the roof started to crumble beneath his feet. He took off toward the edge, making sure that Delta and Epsilon were near him. They were going to need to do something really, really stupid if they wanted to survive.

As they neared the edge, the roof came apart in bigger chunks. They had to leap over several slabs of concrete to be able to continue.

"This has to be karma for pushing Sigma out the window!" Alpha somehow managed a grin as he braced himself for the jump.

"I would like it to be made aware that I do  _not_  want to do this!” Delta cried out. He narrowly avoided slipping backwards into the growing hole in the roof by speeding up slightly.

All that Epsilon had to contribute was a screech of, “Son of a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!”

 

 


	11. The Sarcophagus pt 3

The ground beneath Team A’s feet disappeared and they plummeted downward. The building behind them continued to crumble, but the three of them were too focused on their surroundings to notice. Alpha and Delta righted themselves first, fixing it so they were falling headfirst. Epsilon flailed for a moment longer, then gained control and went into a dive like his teammates.

Debris and guards fell beside them. 479er’s pelican was in a nose dive, keeping up as best as she could. The Sarcophagus was just ahead of them, barely out of reach. When Delta and Epsilon pulled back, Alpha reached ahead, pushing for it until he was able to reach the edge. Then with one swift movement, he was standing on top of the Sarcophagus. He easily balanced on it and was able to edge it over, closer to where 479er’s pelican.

"Line it up, come on. Come on, stay on target!" Niner’s voice screamed at them through their radios. The back of her pelican opened up, but Alpha started to fall behind. Epsilon and Delta dove down to catch up with them and stayed close to Alpha’s side just in case their help was needed.

 

~*~

 

Theta knew nothing for a few moments except for the fact that his entire body was screaming in pain. After several moments he registered that he was on the ground, trapped under a car that had not driven into him, no, it had either been thrown at him or had blown up and landed on him. Whatever had caused it, his legs were pinned down, possibly broken. Several cuss words came to mind, but Theta bit them down, taking a deep breath to calm himself. First, assess damage and look for any immediate threats.

The freelancer carefully propped himself up, but a majority of his view was blocked by the stupid sedan that was on him. He had lost track of the insurrectionist, and frankly had stopped caring about him. Theta laid back down, and took a deep breath. He tried to move his legs next, praying that nothing was broken. He let out a scream of agony as he caught on something in the car, something that was cutting into his left calf. Okay, trying to move his legs was a terrible idea.

From somewhere across the bridge Theta heard a shout in reply to his own, but he couldn't tell who it was or what they were saying. Heavy gunfire filled the air, making it hard to hear anything other than the blood pounding in his ears. Theta didn't even have the mental capacity to worry about his team, he'd be dead if he didn't free his legs soon.

 

~*~

 

Just as Alpha was about to get the Sarcophagus into the back of the pelican, the sound of engines filled their ears. Alpha looked up in alarm at the two ship that had suddenly appeared out of thin air. Gunfire soon mingled with the noises engines and the rush of air in their ears. Bullets sprayed nearby and a couple pinged off of the side of the pelican. Niner would be pissed about that later.

With a quick look at Epsilon, Alpha leaped off of the package. Epsilon quickly took his place and was balanced precariously on the Sarcophagus. He already had his battle rifle drawn and it didn’t take much for him to aim and pull the trigger.

Epsilon’s bullets found their mark. The glass of the cockpit on the nearest ship shattered and the pilot’s screams could be faintly heard as lights flashed red. In an attempt to save himself, the pilot swerved the the left. In doing so, he managed to crash his ship into his partner’s and there was an explosion that would’ve shaken the ground.

  
  


~*~

  
  


Theta propped himself up again, more gently this time, and looked around for anyone to help him. His elbow bumped into something he had noticed earlier but didn't register until he actually touched it. His sniper rifle. Theta stared at it for a full second before grabbing it wildly. Just as he grabbed the gun Fang stepped back into view, his armor heavily damaged.

The insurrectionist stared down at him, his visor cracked. Through the gaps in the armor Theta could see his eyes, dark brown and full of fear.

Theta imagined that he looked exactly the same.

The fear quickly melted into rage as Fang registered who he was looking at. He stomped toward Theta as if it were the teen himself that had thrown the car at him. Theta struggled to get the rifle set up, hoping it wasn't too damaged to fire. The insurrectionist halted in front of the car, and with one fluid motion lifted underneath it, picking the vehicle up.

That solved the leg problem, and Theta might have been grateful if it wasn't obvious Fang's intentions were to drop the car back down and crush him. Theta raised the sniper rifle at the man who was holding a freakin sedan over him, prayed and pulled the trigger.

 

~*~

 

Before Epsilon had any time to feel proud of himself, he would suddenly lauded sideways into Niner’s pelican. It turns out that Omega had kicked the side of the Sarcophagus and put his jetpack to good use. Epsilon tumbled to the floor of the ship with a scream, then an, “Owww.” Sparks flew up from Omega’s used jetpack as Epsilon lay there on the floor, his everything aching.

"Hold on," Niner called out from the front of the pelican. They pulled out of their nosedive and took off with little incident.

Omega was back on his feet before Epsilon could even think straight. He confidently strode into the cockpit and told Niner, “I suggest that you get the package back to Command.” Then, he laughed that creepy, maniacal laugh.

Niner sounded unfazed when she responded with, “On it.”

 

~*~

 

The rifle went off with a resounding bang, very loudly in Theta's damaged coms. Without thinking of his injuries Theta rolled out of the way as the Insurrectionist dropped the car back down. Fang dropped to the road, a new hole in the center of his already cracked visor. Theta tried not to stare at the blood pooling under his head, but it was hard not to look at the horror he had caused. Killing the man was his only option, so why did Theta feel so awful about it?

Theta groaned, gingerly pressing his hand to the deep gash on his left calf. He wouldn't have time to stitch it up on the field, though he did have an emergency sewing kit on him. Instead Theta pulled out his tiny tube of bio foam and spread a bit of it across the injury to stop the bleeding. It would have to do for now, he had left his team on their own for long enough.

Sweat dripped on the inside of his helmet as Theta braced himself to stand up. He grabbed the damaged sedan for support, slowly pulling himself into a standing position. His legs screamed in protest, but they were supporting him which was a good sign. At the very least that meant that nothing was broken. Theta took a careful step forward, and when he didn't lose balance he let go of the car. He knew he didn't have forever to pull himself together, and Theta looked up over the car to survey the rest of the bridge.

He was almost fifty feet from where he had started, as evident by the blockade his team had set up. Eta and Gamma were together behind one of the cars they overturned, taking turns firing over the top to keep the UNSC soldiers at bay. It seemed that without their bird they didn't have the advantage they needed to take down the freelancers. Kappa was on the other side of the bridge, with several people out of armor. It took Theta a few moments the realize they were civilians she was trying to keep out of the line of fire.

It had only been a few minutes from their car getting blown up to Theta standing so far from his friends, struggling with a wave of overwhelming panic. How had everything gone so wrong so fast?

 

~*~

 

"I think… that our ride has left without us, Agent Alpha," Delta yelled to his teammate over the wind in their ears.

Alpha snorted, seemingly calm for someone who was quickly approaching the ground. “Yeah, no shit! Do ya think maybe we should have had a fallback plan?”

There was a pause before Delta shouted, “May I ask what happened to Agent Sigma?”

As if on cue, Sigma appeared underneath them in a car, catching the two Freelancers at the last possible second. Delta landed in the passenger seat and Alpha grabbed onto the gun on the back.

In a moment of surprise and confusion, Delta actually yelped, “Are we in a car?”

Alpha was too busy swearing to respond to his best friend.

The landed easily on the highway and drove through a tunnel, rap music blaring loudly from Sigma’s speakers. He seemed pretty nonchalant for someone who had just saved their lives. One of his arms rested on the car door and he bobbed his head along with the music. Delta and Alpha both shot him looks of disbelief as they composed themselves.

When they emerged from the tunnel, the three agents noticed that the building they had been standing on only minutes before was now gone. Delta gasped and Alpha swore again. There was no reaction from Sigma, who was busy avoiding crashing as they hurtled down the highway.

Back on the pelican, 479er spoke into the radio, the usual teasing tone in her voice gone. This was strictly professional. “Command this is four seven niner, the Sarcophagus is secure, I repeat the Sarcophagus is secure, we are inbound. I managed to secure two agents. Remaining team members is unknown. I repeat…”

Omega held his dead jetpack in his hands, looking at it almost sadly. Epsilon struggled to his feet and groaned. He looked over at Omega and gulped. In an attempt to make conversation or just to have something to say, Epsilon weakly managed, “So. Jetpacks, huh?”

"Yes, I love jetpacks. They often end bloodily. Like, that one agent. What was his name? Mu?" Omega questioned as he set the destroyed jetpack on top of the Sarcophagus. Epsilon only managed a shrug before Omega had jumped out the back of the pelican.

"That was interesting," Epsilon said with a sigh.

 

~*~

 

Theta started towards his team, only to stop when he heard a scream for help from one of the cars. He grimaced as he stepped over Fang's body, and winced with the effort every step took. He had had better missions.

Theta helped a man out of an overturned car, and told him to get to safety. He knew he didn't have the time to be helping civilians, but it was his fault they were in peril and would have felt even worse than he already did if he didn't do something. Once he was out of view Theta picked himself up and jogged to the car Kappa was positioned by. The civilians he had seen earlier were gone, and he guessed Kappa had found a way to get them to safety. He hoped, at least.

“Pae!” Kappa gasped, staring at the blood that was still dripping down his armor. He tried to smile, to do something to let her know he was going to be okay, but instead Theta took a step towards her and fell to his knees, groaning painfully.

“Shit, shit shit,” Kappa said gracefully, kneeling next to him. “Theta are you alright? Jesus, please be alright!”

She grabbed at his helmet, and Theta put his hands around hers. “Yeah, just fine,” he gasped. “Hurt a leg or two, no big deal.”

“Theta you ass,” She hissed, but didn't let go, her brown helmet staring directly at his purple one. “You're not fine, we're not fine. Everything is fucked Theta.”

“We cans-til-ldo this,” Theta slurred, trying to stand back up to escape her harsh gaze.

“No Theta! Look at us, we're pinned down, your hurt, we lost the target and there's no way in hell we'll be able to catch up to him since we have no transportation,” Kappa listed off the ways they were screwed, and each point felt like a blow to Theta. He was supposed to be leading them, and he had messed everything up.

“We lost the target,” Theta repeated, his voice hollow.

“Theta, I know it's bad but you can't give a damn about that right now, what's happened has happened. Right now we need to focus on extraction and getting our team home for taco night,” Kappa said, bringing her voice down in an attempt to calm him down. Theta looked up to where the rest of his team was, and then to the two vans that were currently firing on them. A number of UNSC soldiers lay dead on the ground, but enough of them were still going to keep the freelancers from getting away. Theta took a deep breath, and it rattled painfully around his lungs.

“Let's finish this.” He said bravely, before his coms were sparking again and Alpha's voice flooded his helmet.

 

~*~

 

In the time that it had taken for 479er to leave, Delta had switched to driving and Sigma was in the passenger seat. Alpha had stayed on the gun by his own insistence. As Delta sped down the road, Alpha decided that it was time to check in on Team B.

"Hey, Team B! I need a report."

 

~*~

 

Theta winced at the sudden noise, instinctively putting his hand over his com.

“What is it?” Kappa asked worriedly.

“It's Alpha's signal,” Theta replied in dismay. Then Alpha shouted again and he realized he should probably reply.

 

~*~

 

When there was no answer from the other end, Alpha repeated himself, with a bit more urgency in his voice this time. "Team B!"

There was another pause, then Theta’s voice came through the radio. “Team B is down Alpha,” The teen said flatly. “We have wounded, we're taking fire and we've lost the package.”

There was the sound of bullets and sirens in the background. Alpha ground his teeth together. “We’ll be right there, Theta.” He tried to comfort the younger Freelancer, but a knot was growing in Alpha’s stomach as he worried.

"Negative, Alpha,” Alpha could almost hear Theta shaking his head urgently. “You need to get the package and finish the mission," The freelancer sounded frightened, but he was right. This was there only chance to get the package, and the Theta wasn't going to accept help that might cost them the mission.

Alpha sighed at Theta’s stubbornness. “Roger that.”

 

 

 

  
  


 


	12. Hell's angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so we decided we were just going to go ahead and wrap up this mission, and so this chapter is ridiculously long. Also, took a while to write :o shout out to Day for being the mvp of the game, this chapter is awesome

"I’m looking at Team B’s tracker…" There was a pause as Delta concentrated on the tracker in front of him. "Alright, I have located him."

Alpha nodded and looked over Delta’s shoulder to see the location. Then, he pointed ahead of them to direct Delta where to drive. “We’ll cut ‘em off at that overpass, go, go! He’s not gonna know what fuckin’ hit him.”

~*~

“Well, our only means of help just went after the package we failed to retrieve,” Theta said in a hollow voice as his coms went dead and Alpha was gone. He knelt next to Kappa, gripping his sniper rifle like it was the only thing that could support him. His legs hurt, his neck was still bleeding, his armor was damaged and Theta just wanted to get home now.

“We don't need Alpha to get home,” Kappa replied, putting a hand on Theta's shoulder. “If we can just repel these guys and get 413 on the radio we can evac.”

Theta nodded at her passively. He leaned over the car they were hiding behind to get the positions of his enemies. What he saw instead were Gamma and Eta, who were still taking cover under an over turned Van, taking turns to shoot at the enemy. A shot from Gamma and one of the Insurrectionist soldiers closest to Theta went down. Then Eta was up, laying down a blanket of cover fire. They weren't beaten yet. They were bloody and hurt, but they weren't beaten yet.

~*~

Omega ducked behind a corner to avoid the guard patrol that was coming up behind him. Luckily, they didn’t notice the brief flash of movement and carried on with their conversation. Once they were out of earshot, Omega flicked on his radio. “Come in, Mother of Invention.”

FILSS’ voice came through his helmet’s speakers. “We read you, Agent Omega. Go ahead.”

"My dear FILSS, I’m going to need you to fire ordinance pod zero-four-zero-one to my position," Omega grinned at the thought of the pod, but kept his voice low just in case the guards decided to check the hallway again.

There was a moment of silence, then FILLS spoke. “I am sorry, but I cannot verify the contents of that pod. Protocol dictates that all-“

"Just fire it, FILSS." The Director had cut her off. Omega smirked at the sound of the familiar southern accent.

"Acknowledged. Safety protocol override. Firing pod zero-four-zero-one," FILSS confirmed.

Omega turned off his radio just in time for an explosion to his right. He ducked away from the spray of rubble, then turned to the huge, metal pod. It opened smoothly to reveal a motorcycle and a huge fucking gun. Two of Omega’s favorite things.

He rubbed his hands together in anticipation as Omega approached his new toys. “Hello there, sexy,” he muttered to himself before mounting the bike and strapping the gun to his back. He revved the engine and gripped the handlebars, steering himself toward the window. With that, Omega kicked off and sped toward the glass window. He crashed through it and went over the heads of a couple guards, before landing on the road and driving away. Omega had places to be.

~*~

Theta gripped his rifle in his hands. “Kappa, get 413, I'm going to get the others,” He said in a voice that he hoped was confident. It seemed to do the trick because Kappa nodded urgently back at him, before putting her hand to her helmet to turn her coms on.

“413? This is Agent Kappa we need evac-” Theta blocked her words out as he focused on finding a safe path to Gamma and Eta.

There were several cars that had been knocked out by the emp wave that he could use for cover, but there would be several precarious seconds between each one that he would be exposed. Something would eventually go his way today, he was just sure of it.

Biting back a cuss words Theta rolled from his current cover to the next car over. His legs screamed in protest, and he rolled too far, landing flat on his stomach. The teen bit back a whimper of pain. He had forgotten how much damage his leg armor had taken. His left calf was still bleeding badly, dripping onto the pavement beneath him. Theta looked up to see how much further he had to go, and a set of light blue armor crashed into him.

~*~

Alpha watched the roads carefully for any sign of the program official. Delta was the one to spot the approaching headlights and Sigma quickly got into position with his brand new brute shot. The were hanging out on an overpass, so it was easy for Sigma to drop down on the official’s car, raise the knife end of his weapon, and bring it down on the official.

The three of them met up back down on the main road. Sigma swung the briefcase onto his back, a proud tone to his body language. As he climbed back into the car, Alpha nodded at him from the gunner’s position. “Good job, dude.”

Sigma’s voice heavily suggested a smirk when he looked over at Alpha and simply said, “Thank you, I appreciate it, Alpha.” The two of them locked gazes and they kept staring at each other.

Delta cleared his throat and Alpha looked away in chagrin. “A response team is most likely on the way.”

"Let’s get the fuck outta here," Alpha agreed, seemingly over his moment of embarrassment.

"I suggest that you hold onto something," Delta told them as he hit the pedal. They sped off at an almost alarming fast pace and Delta expertly maneuvered them through the traffic, weaving in and out between cars. As he drove, Delta apologized to the civilians they passed. "We’re coming through! Excuse me… Pardon me… Look out!"

Alpha looked up at Delta’s warning. Above them were two ships, probably carrying a team. “Here they come!” He warned the rest of the group as he prepared himself for a fight.

Two ships closed in behind the Freelancer’s get away car. The noise from the engines blasted in their ears, even through the noise filters of their helmets. Civilians swerved out of the way to avoid getting hit by the incoming ships. Delta stepped on the peddle as Alpha started firing at the ships.

A figure dove off of the closer of the two ships and hung in the air for a brief moment before a burst of flame came out from behind him. His jetpack propelled him closer to their car and Alpha and Sigma could see his incredibly muscular arms, even from where they were.

Two more soldiers jumped out of the plane. One guy had a much slimmer build and had a sniper rifle gripped in his hands. His jetpack came on much earlier than his partner’s had. The third guy seemed like your typical soldier, nothing stuck out about him compared to the other two.

The muscular guy and the regular soldier started firing at them. Delta swerved to attempt shaking them off, but didn’t have much luck. Alpha shot back at them as best as he could, but he was actually trying to avoid hitting civilians, unlike the response team.

While they were distracted, the man with the sniper file flew ahead and landed gracefully on the flatbed of a nearby truck. With one swift movement he twisted around and aimed at the quickly moving Freelancers.

As a shower of bullets sprayed at them from behind, all of the Freelancers were too distracted by the flying soldiers to see the sniper that was just ahead of them. Delta swerved to avoid the bullets as best as he could and Alpha returned fire. Over the commotion, he nodded at Sigma. “Dude, protect that fucking briefcase.”

Sigma started to reload his brand new weapon and turned around just in time to notice the small, red dot that was on his chest. “This isn’t go-“ He managed to get out before the sniper squeezed the trigger and shot Sigma in the chest.

~*~

“Sorry,” Gamma muttered as he picked Theta up, ignoring the younger man's yelps of pain.

Eta snickered unhelpfully behind him, her silver armor covered in new dents and scratches. “Gamma you're not making this any easier. We saw you two struggling and thought we'd lend a hand. What happened to you team leader?” She asked sarcastically.

“I killed the Emp guy,” Theta informed her flatly.

“Ah,” Eta shrugged, “what a day it's been.”

She waved at Gamma to duck, and swung her battle rifle over the car they were hidden behind. She shot twice. Two men fell on the other side of the bridge. Theta stared at her, and realized that it wasn't actually her battle rifle. She must have stolen it off one of the dead UNSC men.

“My leg isn't actually that bad,” Theta pointed out hopefully. “Can you put me down?”

Gamma looked down at him, tilting his helmet quizzically. “If you say so.”

His legs stung, but Theta bit back any cries of pain and knelt next to his team behind their shelter. “Alpha and team A are going to get the package, we just need to make contact with 413 so we can get out of here,” He explained quickly.

“Hell yeah,” Eta exclaimed passionately. “We're gonna make taco night after all!”

Theta just shrugged, nervously toying with his pink arm bands. “Let's just get back to Kappa and hold our position until we can get out. There's not many of them left, and I don't think they'll waste any more reinforcements out here since we've already lost the package.”

“Sounds good to me,” Eta agreed, and Gamma simply nodded. “Cover me,” Eta added, as she stood up to move to the next car.

Before Theta could reply there was a resounding bang and Eta collapsed, a new hole in her chest plate.

~*~

Alpha whipped around at the sudden noise from behind him. His gaze fell on Sigma’s slumped form, then on the sniper that was getting ready to take another shot. “Sig- sniper!” He ducked just in time to miss the shot that would’ve hit him directly in the head.

The sound of more bullets being fired and the squealing of tires filled the air. All of a sudden, Omega was in the air on a motorcycle. The two Freelancers that were active gawked as Omega fired off a single shot and blew up one of the two ships that had been tailing them. He landed on the road with ease and quickly caught up to the two bikes that Alpha hadn’t noticed were behind them. They didn’t have to worry about the bikers for long, because Omega sent them flying.

Once Alpha regained his composure, he noticed the bigger of the two airborne soldiers motioning to the other to move up. He scowled at Omega as if the other Freelancer could see, then turned to Delta. “Fucking speed up, Delta,” he ordered.

“I’m going as fast as I possibly can, Agent Alpha,” Delta replied calmly, as if they weren’t in the middle of a firefight. Instead, his tone matched that of someone who was telling a young child that they couldn’t have anymore cookies. Alpha grit his teeth at Delta, but didn’t have much time to feel annoyed before the smaller soldier jumped onto their car and started firing at them.

Alpha knocked him away with a swift kick, but he simply turned on his jetpack to keep from falling away. He landed back on the car and dodged Alpha’s second kick. He threw a punch which was blocked and soon returned. He was knocked backwards, next to where Sigma was struggling to get up after the sniper’s shot.

The soldier drew a knife from his armor and stepped on Sigma’s back to push him down and easily take the briefcase from him. Anger flooded through Alpha and he put all his weight into the next punch that he threw. The soldier was finally thrown off of the car and the briefcase flew into the air. Alpha reached for it, desperately trying to get a hold, but he couldn’t get a grip on it and the briefcase bounced in his hands. When he finally caught it, Alpha grinned triumphantly. “Got it.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the muscular soldier kicked him away and snatched the briefcase. Alpha tumbled to the front of the car and fought to stay on it, his muscles straining as he tried to climb back up. The soldier stepped forward and aimed his battle rifle at Alpha’s face.

“One moment,” Delta announced, then slammed on the brakes. Alpha and the soldier flew through the air and just before they crashed on a flatbed full of barrels, Alpha grabbed the briefcase back. The barrels went everywhere, making it harder for both Delta and the second soldier with the jetpack to avoid being hit.

The second soldier flew ahead and started firing at Alpha as he picked himself up off of the surface of the flatbed. The sound was like a series of pops in Alpha’s helmet radio and not for the first time, he was glad that they had noise filters. He would’ve gone deaf long ago if they hadn’t. The muscled soldier grabbed one of the many barrels and attempted to throw it at Delta, who swerved out of the way.

Delta made a frustrated noise. “I’m going to have to request for you to stop throwing shit!” Then to Sigma, he pointed out the returned sniper with an, “On your left!”

The first flatbed had pulled up beside them and the sniper who had shot Sigma was taking aim once again. Delta easily rammed the side of it and the sniper struggled to turn his jetpack on in time. While he was distracted, Sigma punched him out of the air.

Delta sped up so he could pull up net to the lifted that Alpha and the two soldiers were fighting on. Sigma stood up in his seat and prepared to jump onto the truck. “A little closer, Delta,” he instructed, hesitant about jumping from one moving vehicle onto another.

“Be careful,” Delta told Sigma as he inched closer. Sigma nodded his thanks to the other agent, then launched himself at the smaller soldier.

~*~

“Eta!” Theta shrieked in horror, while Gamma surveyed the area for their assailant. From the opposite direction he spotted a sniper, and quickly pulled up his rifle to take out the threat. As Theta watched the sniper took aim again, and reached down to click on something in his belt. The sniper fired, but the shot bounced harmlessly off the dome shield Theta summoned around them.

“Hold your fire,” Theta hissed at Gamma. Without waiting for a reply Theta hit his coms again, “Kappa, you have a sniper at your 5, he's just taken out Eta.”

“Rodger that,” Kappa turned on a dime, and shot down the threat which was still too focused on Theta's shield to react in time.

Theta hastily crawled to where Eta was on the ground and put his hands on the edge of her helmet. Keeping the shield up he did a quick med scan on her, taking into account where she had been shot. Upper chest, on the right side. Life threatening, but not instant kill. What an awful sniper.

He tugged off her helmet, and a sheet of silvery hair fell free. Eta was naturally blonde like her sister, but preferred to dye her hair. Theta wasn't sure if she wanted to match her armor, or stop matching her sister, but he always liked the unnatural color on her. Her eyes were closed and a thin smear of blood leaked from her mouth.

“Eta?” Theta asked carefully, putting a hand to her cheek. Gamma knelt on her other side, his hand hovering over the hole in her chest.

“Now what?” He asked quietly.

A loud roaring marked the arrival of a pelican, and one look was all Theta needed to know it was theirs. “413 is here!” Kappa announced unnecessarily to both of them.

Theta ignored her, withdrawing his hand. He looked back at Gamma, and clipped the helmet back on. “Pick her up, we're getting her home.”

~*~

He was thrown to the side, but Sigma was able to recover quickly. He stumbled back over to the soldier and managed to get two heavy punches in before he was pushed back once again. He backed up into Alpha, who was struggling with the muscled soldier. Their backs connected with the briefcase in between them and Sigma quickly took the package back from Alpha.

The two of them switched places to get to the soldiers that were a better match for them. Alpha was easily able to get in four punches before the smaller soldier could process what was happening. Sigma charged at the muscled soldier, throwing all of his weight at him.

Delta drove up beside Alpha, Sigma’s huge gun in his hand. “On your right!” He called out, then tossed the gun in the air.

Alpha dodged a couple of bullets to grab the weapon out of the air. He twisted around and slashed upward with the knife end. A feeling of satisfaction flooded through him as he felt the connection that the blade made with the soldier. With one more swift movement, Alpha stabbed he guy in the arm as hard as he possibly could.

The soldier grunted in pain and groaned, “Come on!”

Before Alpha could react, the soldier in front of him tossed his pistol over to the muscled soldier. The muscled soldier pushed Sigma, who didn’t notice the gun, a couple of times before he was able to get a good angle. He grabbed Sigma’s hand, then fired off a shot underneath Sigma’s helmet. Blood splattered around them, covering the shiny gold of Sigma’s visor.

The muscled soldier then tossed Sigma to the ground and aimed the gun at his chest. When Sigma attempted to roll away, a foot was placed on his stomach to hold him down. With that, the muscled soldier started emptying the contents of the gun into Sigma’s chest.

Alpha screamed, “NO!” And rushed over to punch the soldier away from the nearly dead Sigma. He tried to stab the muscled soldier with Sigma’s weapon, but missed and got the blade stuck in the flatbed of the truck instead. The soldier jumped up and threw a couple of punches, which Alpha blocked. Alpha tried to get in a couple of kicks, but those were dodged.

The muscled soldier kept trying to shoot Alpha, but Alpha wouldn’t let him. He jumped away from the gun and twisted the soldier’s arm away from him and pushed him backwards. A couple of well placed kicks had the soldier down on the ground. Alpha was faced with the smaller soldier, who attempted to use his jetpack to get away. All that Alpha had to do was knock him back down before the bigger soldier got up.

On the opposite end of the flatbed, Sigma had somehow managed to get to his feet and reach his brute shot. He slowly reloaded it and messily aimed it at the ground. He fired off a grenade that exploded directly next to the truck, causing it to swerve dramatically. The flatbed suddenly hit another car, which sent the Freelancers and the soldiers soaring through the air.

Alpha was lucky enough to land in the car with Delta, but Sigma bounced on the road a couple of times before being hit by another car. He was sent flying through the air and over a fence, falling off of the highway. Before he was gone, the muscled soldier grabbed the briefcase from his body.

The muscled soldier landed surprisingly gracefully for someone of his size, then caught up with one of the airships and climbed on board. As he flew off, Alpha could only watch from his spot in the car. “God fucking dammit, we almost had that son of a fucking bitch,” he cursed to Delta.

Then, the familiar sound of bullets filled the air and the two of them caught sight of Omega, who was not too far ahead of them.

Alpha started swearing with the strength of someone who had just stubbed their toe.

The airship flew into a tunnel and Omega was hot on their tail. The massive doors to the tunnel started to close, the beeping of the warning signal grating on Alpha’s nerves.

As Delta and Alpha started to approach the tunnel, Alpha got ready to jump out of the car. “We’re not letting that fuckface grab it first,” he told Delta with determination in his voice.

Alpha could practically feel Delta’s burning scowl. “May I ask why it matters who gets the package first, Agent Alpha?”

“It just does, Delta,” Alpha replied in exasperation. Just before they reached the tunnel, Alpha ordered to bail out. Delta did just that with little resistance. He tumbled for a few seconds on the pavement, then watched as Alpha braced himself for the incoming impact.

The car smashed into the two huge doors and Alpha was fired off of it. He easily oriented himself midair and landed in the running position, ready to go. Once both of his feet were on the ground, Alpha activated his speed unit.

He took off like a rocket, running past crashed cars and confused civilians. Alpha’s heart thumped rapidly in his chest and his veins were filled with fire. Adrenaline coursed through his system and the only thing that occupied Alpha’s mind was beating Omega.

In seconds, Alpha was running alongside Omega, who was still on his motorcycle. The airship was in sight, if only he could go a little faster. He just needed to catch up. As they two of them raced, Omega turned toward Alpha.

“Unless you want to die a horrible death that involves you getting run over by a car and your guts all over the road, you should fall back now, Alpha,” Omega suggested, laughter in his voice.

Alpha ground his teeth in anger. “You fucking fall back, asshole.”

Omega chuckled, then raced past Alpha. The tunnel ended just ahead and the airship flew out of it into the open air. Before Alpha could come up with a plan to take it down, Omega drove up a ramp and jumped off his new bike at the last second, doing a flip in the air. The motorcycle crashed into the airship and there was a loud boom as they both exploded.

The muscled soldier fell out of the airship, struggling to turn on his jetpack before he became a pancake on the ground. Just before the impact, he managed to fly away unharmed. As Omega landed, Alpha ran past him, feeling satisfied knowing that Omega was eating his dust.

The soldier flew off of the highway, but Alpha showed no hesitation in following him. He started falling to the ground, but quickly used his grappling gun to hook onto a nearby crane and swing himself onto a rooftop from there.

Alpha jumped from roof to roof as he tailed the soldier. Eventually, the number of buildings started to run out. Fortunately, the soldier flew in between two glass skyscrapers. Alpha was able to use his grappling hooks on the glass to stay in the air long enough to tackle the soldier back onto the road.

The briefcase scraped along the ground as they slid. Alpha drew his hand back and punched the soldier as hard as he possibly could, hoping to get some revenge for Sigma. The two of them flipped in the air and landed in the middle of the road. They both rolled, his white armor sending sparks up around them. Alpha could only watch as the insurrectionist was hit by a car and thrown away just like Sigma had been. The briefcase flew out of his line of sight and when he tried to sit up to see it, a truck came barreling toward him.

Alpha curled up into a ball as the truck passed over him and didn’t get up soon enough after it was gone. He crashed into a barrier in the middle of the road and fell to the ground, staying motionless for over thirty seconds.

When Alpha did pull himself to his feet, his helmet fell off of his head and rolled onto the ground. He clutched at an injury on his side and could only watch as Omega walked up to the briefcase on the overpass across from him. His gloved hand wrapped around the handle and frustration filled Alpha, replacing the determination that had been there before.

Just before he turned to leave, Omega nodded at Alpha and yelled over the sound of cars. “Better luck next time, Agent Alpha!” Then, a car drove in front of him and when Alpha could see again, he was gone.

“Fuck,” Alpha swore to himself, then turned to the Pelican that was landing in the middle of the road to pick him up. Once it touched down, Alpha leaned over and grabbed his helmet and approached the slowly opening door. Inside, Delta was waiting for him with an outstretched hand. Alpha gladly accepted the help and allowed himself to be pulled inside.

~*~ 

Gamma did as he was told, placing two hands under Eta's prone body and lifting her easily. He may not be the strongest of the freelancers, but Gamma was not someone to take lightly. Theta waited until he had his composure to put his hand back on his com. “How many soldiers do we have left Kappa?”

“We're looking at half a dozen, I think, uh, some have taken shelter it's really hard to count under these conditions,” She replied in a hesitant tone. Theta stood up under the cover of the dome and took in the surroundings.

“Get to Kappa,” Theta commanded, holding up his rifle. Gamma nodded, and once he reached the edge Theta dropped the shield.

Before the blue solider reached the next car Theta had fired his sniper rifle six times, and the last of the enemy soldiers fell to the ground. Theta hung his head, limping back to where Kappa and Gamma were struggling to get Eta on board. Someone had to have a healing unit for her right? Alpha had to have gotten the package by now. Theta could only hope. If he had cost them the mission, and cost one of his teammates their life he'd never forgive himself.

Kappa clapped him on the back as he hopped into the pelican. It was how she showed encouragement, but Theta was sore, bloody, and just wanted to be alone. He was just glad the mission was over, and it wasn't until he was strapped in that Theta actually took a second to wonder how the other team did. He didn't bother to ask, just leaned his head against the rest and hoped Epsilon and the others were still alive.

 


	13. Remorse

Epsilon sat alone at the lunch table, his helmet staring balefully back at him. He had taken it off to eat, but staring at the military grade taco in front of him he really didn't feel that hungry anymore. He sighed, taking a sip of the soda he had gotten through a sippy straw. After all the shit he went through today, at least he still had his goofy straws.

Since Omega had knocked him and the package onto the ship with 479er he was the first freelancer back to the moi. The good news was that he would be first in line for taco night. The bad news was that he would have to wait for the transmissions to let him know if his friends were alright, and if they had completed their half of the mission.

The way Omega had jumped back out made his stomach sink. He knew that their job wasn't over, and he had heard Theta hopelessly ask for help before he was out of range and the signal was lost. Epsilon got home safe and sound, and sat in the hanger bay in nearly paralyzing anxiety waiting to hear if Theta and Kappa had survived.

He hated this. This fear, this constant pressure of death at their backs. How was Delta doing with his injury? Iota was here at the base, but was Eta functioning properly without her sister as back up? Hell, Epsilon even found himself concerned with Alpha and Sigma. Sure he hated Sigma, didn't mean he wanted the freelancer dead.

After two hours the call came in that they were inbound, and had wounded on board. Epsilon watched as the paramedics gathered, chatting nervously amongst themselves with anticipation. They always preceded the return of a pelican from a bad mission, like vultures waiting for prey. But wounded didn't translate to dead, and Epsilon allowed himself the tiny ray of hope.

The injured were unloaded first, and Epsilon could only cover his mouth as Eta and Sigma were carted to the hospital, bullets in their chests and blood staining the stretchers they were placed on. Epsilon left then, not wanting to see anymore blood. He heard that Theta had been hurt, and knew he wouldn't be able to handle seeing the teen injured again so quickly after his mission with Kappa. While all of his best friends were bleeding out Epsilon walked to the mess hall to get a yellow loopy straw to keep himself sane.

He looked up as a tray clattered onto the table next to him. Kappa set her helmet next to his, facing the opposite direction. She hadn't even gotten the tacos. Kappa had a salad, if you could even call it that. It was just lettuce. There was literally nothing else on her plate, just a bowl of lettuce.

“Hey,” Epsilon muttered.

“Hey,” Kappa replied, looking briefly at him before staring mournfully back at her plate. They sat in silence for nearly a whole minute, neither of them taking a single bite. “What a mission.”

“At least everyone survived,” Epsilon replied, looking up to where several more freelancers just entered the hall. Alpha was leading, his white armor smudged with the days events, with Delta and Iota trailing behind him. Alpha took his helmet off as he walked, but Delta stayed fully suited.

“It's too early to say that,” her tone was dark, and Kappa was staring directly at Iota while she spoke. Iota was completely out of armor since her ankle was still in a brace, her long blonde hair was pulled up in a loose braid. Iota's blue eyes were dimmed with worry, and she was staring down at the floor as she walked. Epsilon felt a stab of guilt. Her twin was in surgery, and they couldn't be sure if she was going to live yet.

The three older agents sat at the table next to them, none of them even bothering to look at Epsilon and Kappa. Alpha was talking in a hushed voice to Delta, who nodded occasionally.

“We don't even know what we were risking our lives for,” Kappa hissed. Alpha looked up at her. “We went out there, we got shot, and we have no fucking clue what was even in the sarcophagus. You'd think if the director was going to send us out to die for this fucking thing he'd at least let us know what was in it.”

“Kappa what are you doing?” Epsilon asked, nervously looking up. All three of the older agents were watching her now, but Kappa didn't seem to care. She kept her cold brown eyes fixed on Epsilon as she spoke.

“Theta killed one of their soldiers. You should have hard his voice when he told me Epsilon, he sounded so damn broken up about it. He's just a fucking kid, he can't even drink and he murdered someone today, ” She ran a hand through her hair and grimaced.

“This is war Kappa,” Alpha said suddenly, and Kappa finally looked up at the other freelancers. “Theta knew he'd have to hurt others when he joined the project. I don't like it either but it's what we have to do.”

“What for?!” Kappa shouted back at him, getting to her feet. “I thought we were here fighting for _humanity_ , and I don't know about you but the enemies we were shooting at today seemed pretty fucking human to me!”

“The Insurrectionists are a deviant branch of the military,” Delta commented quietly.

“They're working against our organization,” Alpha continued.

“Deviant?” Kappa repeated in a tone that was almost offended. She stood up, looking down at Alpha and Delta and curling her hands into fists. “They're still fucking UNSC, they're still human! Who told you they were the bad guys?”

“The Director,” Iota replied.

“Oh, the Director huh? Cus he's never lied to us before?” Kappa snarled. Alpha and Iota stood up then, looking furious, while Epsilon and Delta exchanged glances. This was not going to end well. “The Director won't even tell us whats in the sarcophagus! And don't tell me I don't need to know Alpha! Not when I got shot at to steal this thing! Not while the Director is sitting in his office not even feeling the slightest bit of remorse for us! I bet you doesn't even blame himself, he's probably up there thinking, 'if Eta had been a better solider she wouldn't have gotten shot!'”

Too late Epsilon realized what she was doing. Too late he realized she was trying to pick a fight, because while he finally scrambled to his feet to stop her he could only watch as one second Iota was standing next to Alpha and the next she was striking Kappa across the jaw. Kappa staggered backwards, her hand instantly raising to cover her mouth while Iota reared to hit her again. For someone with a sprained ankle Iota was dangerously agile, but Alpha was faster.

The agent in white grabbed Iota's fist as she raised it again, dragging her backwards and away from the younger agents.

“LET ME GO!” Iota shrieked, struggling in her boss's grasp. “YOU SHUT THE HELL UP KAPPA!”

“Calm down Iota!” Alpha said furiously. As much as she writhed she couldn't get out of his iron grip. “You need to cut this shit out.”

Kappa took a step forward, intent on continuing the fight when Epsilon put an arm around her waist and hauled her backwards. Unlike Iota, Kappa instantly stilled when Epsilon stopped her, and was willingly lead out of the cafeteria, Iota still screaming obscenities at their backs. They heard Alpha shouting back at her, and Delta very sternly say, “that was uncalled for,” before the door shut behind them.

Epsilon let go of her waist, but refused to let her go completely. He took her gloved hand in his as he marched her toward the closest room where they could be alone, which turned out to be the lecture hall. Epsilon walked to the middle of the room, which was a force of habit as that was his normal spot, and sat down at the table. Kappa hesitated above him for a moment before he frowned at her and pointed to the chair next to him. “Sit.”

She took the seat, looking around the room slowly. At everything except for him.

“Kappa what the hell?” Epsilon asked, not bothering with beating around the bush.

“She hit me,” Kappa started, but Epsilon raised his hand.

“Do you think I'm an idiot Kappa? This wasn't an accident, and this certainly wasn't the first time you've picked a fight with another freelancer,” Epsilon pointed out. Kappa finally looked at him, biting her lip and flushing red. He couldn't tell if she were ashamed, or just mad she got caught. “You're my best friend Kappa, and I haven't just been ignoring you. You were ranked fourth a month ago, and now you're eighth. You've been throwing missions. You almost got Theta killed on the oil platform, and then you purposefully missed our assassination attempt. I know what you can do, if you actually wanted to kill her you would have. You've been abrasive, and you keep pulling shit like what you just did in there and you're making us fight. Kappa you're tearing us up and you're doing it on purpose.”

She was silent for a moment, simply listening to what he was saying. “Are you going to turn me in?”

“No. I want to know why. I get that we're not all the best people, but what did Theta do to deserve this?” Epsilon asked somberly.

“Theta didn't do anything,” Kappa looked away from him again, at the leader board on the far wall. It really was everywhere. Omega was finally on the board, making his first appearance as their new number one. For the first time in his life Alpha was number two. The rest were there, Delta proved he was still capable with only one eye and was given back him number two ranking, only to fall to third when Omega was added to the mix. Gamma, Theta, Epsilon himself, Sigma, Kappa, the twins.

“Then why are you doing this?” Epsilon asked.

“Look at what we're doing Epsilon. We're not fighting a war, we're fighting the government. And why would project freelancer do that? Because this isn't a good organization. It took a kid like Theta and forced him to kill someone. It gave you PTSD. And for what?” Kappa asked, her voice a plea.

She was silent for a moment, and Epsilon realized she wasn't being rhetorical, she actually wanted him to answer her. He thought they were fighting a war, but when was the last time they saw the battle friend that the normal soldiers saw? “I have no idea,” Then he paused. “ _I have no idea_.”

“We're not fighting the war you thought we were. And I'm just trying to figure out what we're really doing,” Kappa spat, standing up. “Don't tell anyone about this conversation.”

Epsilon stared at the leader board in a new light, his eyes going wide. He thought about the Director, asking him all the questions about a potential information leak. What were they fighting for? “I won't,” He promised. She nodded back at him, and turned to leave. Without warning Epsilon grabbed her hand. Kappa looked back down at him. “Please, just stop taking it out on our friends.”

She nodded simply at him, before walking out of the lecture hall. Epsilon sat by himself, what little faith he had in the system shattered, and wondered how he was supposed to carry on now that he had nothing to believe in.

 


	14. Recovery

Theta opened his eyes slowly, but immediately regretted that decision. With a groan, he screwed his eyes shut and rolled over onto his side. Pain radiated down his side, leaving him breathless. After a moment of uncomfortableness, Theta shifted back onto his back, wincing at every movement.

Somebody that was nearby snorted. “Finally awake, Mr. Pumpkin Pie?”

Theta turned his head to the right cracked open his eyes once again, squinting against the florescent lights of the med bay. Eta grinned at him as he blinked in confusion. Her silvery hair had been pulled back into a bun and she wasn’t wearing a shirt, only a sports bra. Eta’s chest was swathed in bandages that were stained brown.

“What are you talking about?” Theta croaked, suddenly feeling his dry throat. There was a glass of water on his bedside table, but Theta didn’t think that he could move to reach it.

“Pie. Kappa called you Pie on the battlefield after you screamed her name,” Eta winked at him, a knowing look in her eyes.

Theta sighed and let his head fall back against the not-soft-enough pillow, trying to hide the flush that had reached his cheeks. “Pae. P-A-E. It’s pronounced like the dessert.”

There was a long pause as Eta thought. “That’s fucking adorable,” she said after about a minute, her tone suggesting that it was fact instead of opinion.

“Don’t tell the others?” Theta pleaded, turning back to Eta to give her the biggest kicked puppy look that he could muster. He couldn’t afford the others knowing his name, even if they were his friends.

Eta grinned at him and winked again. “Your secret is safe with me, Pumpkin Pie. None of them will know the reason for your new nickname.”

Theta sighed, but knew better than to argue with Eta. While similar to her sister in levels of energy and cheerfulness, Eta had a slightly more… menacing tone about her. Theta knew that if he pissed her off, she wouldn’t hesitate to blackmail him.

“So, how are you feeling?” Eta had used pillows to prop herself up on the uncomfortable hospital bed.

Despite Theta’s worries about Eta, he had to realize that she did care about him and her other teammates. He shrugged in response to her question. “I’m alright. Did the doctors say what happened to me?”

Eta paused as she thought about it, then nodded. “Yeah, you’re incredibly banged up from catching a car with your legs. You also had to get stitches in a couple of places. Your leg and neck, I think. You’ll be out of here before me and Sigma. Lucky.” She gave Theta a lopsided grin.

Theta was suddenly reminded of the flight home, of people screaming in his ears about a fatal injury. “Is Sigma okay?” He gulped, slightly dreading the answer to his question. He had never been very close to Sigma, but he was still Theta’s teammate.

Eta quickly sobered up at the mention of Sigma. “He’s… not doing well. Just got out of surgery about thirty minutes ago, but they’re keeping him in intensive care.”

That was a bad sign. Theta tried to shake off his worry, assuring himself that the older agent would be fine. “What happened to him?” He asked Eta, hoping to fill in some of the gaps.

“From what I can gather, one of the Insurrections shot him in the chest a bunch of times, then he was hit by a car, and thrown off the highway.”

Theta let out a low whistle. “That sounds bad.”

Eta gave a half hearted chuckle in response. However, before either of them could continue their conversation, a nurse wandered over with a clipboard in his hands.

“Agent Theta, you are free to go whenever you feel ready. No strenuous workouts and no missions until the doctor says so. Come back in a week to get your stitches removed. Any questions?” The nurse told him in a rush. Theta shook his head quickly, eager to get out of the hospital. With a nod and a forced smile, the nurse jogged jogged back toward intensive care.

“Lucky,” Eta muttered.

Theta grinned as he slowly sat up. His entire body protested the movement, but Theta forced himself to keep going. He was incredibly sore and bruised, but nothing felt too bad. Theta took a deep breath before he stood up, somehow anticipating the rush of pain that came from his legs. His knees buckled and Theta nearly gave up in favor of sleeping for a few more hours. Instead of laying back down, Theta pushed himself into taking a few wobbly steps.

Eta snorted. “Pumpkin Pie, you’re walking like an old man.”

“I feel like an old man,” Theta said as he struggled to stay standing.

After a couple of seconds, he became accustomed to the pain that came from his legs. With a sigh, he straightened up. “I’m gonna go make sure everyone knows that I’m okay. I’ll tell Iota ‘hi’ for you,” he said.

“Thanks, Pumpkin Pie.” Eta gave him a soft smile and waved goodbye. As Theta walked out of the med bay, he waved back, grateful for her company.

Theta wandered the halls, wondering where the other Freelancers were. He hoped that they were all in the rec room, but odds were that they had spread out. His friends had never handled emotionally stressful situations as a group very well. Just as he had that thought, Theta passed the lecture hall, where he caught sight of Epsilon staring blankly at the door.

“Epsilon!” Theta called out, grinning at his friend.

Epsilon instantly snapped back to attention, then realized that Theta was smiling at him. He managed one of his lopsided smiles and strode over, his arms open for a hug. Theta happily fit himself against Epsilon, trying to ignore the brief moment of pain as Epsilon gingerly wrapped his arms around him.

“How ya doing, buddy?” Epsilon pulled back, his eyes full of worry.

Theta bounced on the balls of his feet, then winced. “I’m alright. Just a little banged up. What about you?”

Epsilon laughed, his grin wide enough that his dimples showed. “Of course you would ask about me after you had a car dropped on you.” Epsilon affectionately ruffled Theta’s hair. “Things are a little tense between the others. Iota and Kappa had a fight.”

“Oh, great. I knew that something bad would happen. I can’t leave you guys alone for ten minutes, can I?” Theta joked, trying to cheer Epsilon up. He could tell that he needed it from the slightly sad look in his eyes.

“No, it looks like you can’t.” The two of them started walking down the hall, probably back to the rec room or mess hall. “How’re the others doing?” Epsilon asked, carefully watching Theta to make sure he didn’t stumble.

Theta tried not to blush under the attention. “Eta’s fine, she’ll be out soon. She’s her regular self, making fun of my name and everything.”

Epsilon chuckled, even though he had no idea what Theta’s real name was. In reality, he was a little jealous that Eta knew it and he didn’t. He quickly pushed those feelings away and looked back over at Theta as his face fell.

“Sigma, though… Sigma is in intensive care. Everybody in the med bay seemed super worried about it, even Eta.” Theta shook his head sadly.

Not being able to stand seeing Theta upset, Epsilon lightly bumped their shoulders together. “The big guy will be fine, don’t worry. He seems to have Hulk super powers, he’ll be back to punching shit before you know it.”

Theta laughed quietly and smiled up at Epsilon. “So, did I miss taco night?”

~*~

The two of them walked into the mess hall with the intention of digging out some of the extra tacos. As soon as they walked in, Iota whirled around, obscenities already on her lips. Then, she realized that it was Theta and Epsilon instead of Kappa. She immediately grinned at the sight of them.

“Eta says hi,” Theta announced to the mess hall. Alpha got up from his chair to come talk to them, but Gamma stayed in his seat, eying them carefully. Delta put down the book that he had been squinting at and looked over at them expectantly.

“How is she?” Iota asked, worry straining her voice.

“Eta’s fine. She’ll probably be out soon. Sigma’s in the ICU, but I’m pretty sure that he’ll be okay,” Theta shared the news with the group. As they questioned him, Epsilon walked over to one of the many cabinets and grabbed out one of the military grade tacos for him.

Iota smiled at the news about her sister. “Thanks, Theta.” She patted his shoulder happily, suddenly cheerful again after learning about her twin’s status.

Before he could be bombarded with questions, Epsilon sat Theta down in front of his taco. As he ate, Theta responded to the inquires as best as he could. Around mouthfuls of taco, he recounted the story of Fang and being pinned down by a car. He listened in awe as Alpha and Delta told everyone about the Insurrectionists and how Sigma had gotten so severely injured.

Theta yawned and stretched once there was a lull in the conversation. His muscles protested the movement, but it felt good to be up and moving. His neck stung slightly where a line of stitches had closed up the cut that Fang had left.

Alpha and Gamma started arguing over the movie Home Alone and Theta smiled to himself. He leaned forward to rest his head on his arms as the two of them bickered. Alpha claimed that you could totally recreate every stunt in the movie, but Gamma disagreed. It was around the time that they moved on to Home Alone 2 that Theta dozed off.

~*~

When Theta woke up, he realized that he was no longer in the mess hall. Instead, he was curled up the rec room’s only armchair. A blanket had been placed over him, creating a small bubble of warmth.

On the couch next to him, Alpha, Gamma, Iota, and Delta had all crammed themselves on. Epsilon sat on the floor in front of Theta’s chair. The movie Home Alone was playing on the television and all of them were staring at the screen intently. Theta smiled to himself at the scene, wondering how his friends could be considered adults.

As he had that thought, the door opened and in walked Eta with a huge grin on her face. “What’s up, losers?”

Iota jumped up with a smile that matched her sister’s. “Eta!”

The two of them hugged in a way that looked slightly painful for Eta, but the grin stayed plastered on her face as she sat down next to Iota on the couch. Alpha moved to the floor next to Epsilon to make room for her.

As they all settled in, Eta turned to Theta. “How’re you feeling, Pumpkin Pie?”

Theta rolled his eyes at the nickname while she cackled.


	15. Chapter 15

Agent Delta tapped his boot against the floor in the rhythm to the equations he was running in his head. He liked solving difficult math problems when he was nervous or tired, it helped to sooth him. The only problem was that it annoyed his friends immensely. They had accepted his nonverbal means of expressing his OCD, but he could tell by the way Alpha twitched that it still bothered him.

“You're going to be fine,” Alpha said after Delta finished a particularly tricky logarithm.

“You can say that Alpha, but it does not mean you're right,” Delta informed him.

Alpha shrugged, his armor making a loud noise as it scraped against itself. “I keep forgetting how useless it is to tell you things normal people would take comfort in. But if its any consolation, I didn't just say that to make you feel better. You're my best fighter, and even with your eye you busted that last lock like it was nothing. Whatever the Director has in store for you, I'm sure you'll ace it Delta.”

Delta stopped his tapping. “We don't know what he wants.”

“I still assert that unless he's going to ask you to do an eye exam you'll be fine,” Alpha snorted.

Delta stared at him for a moment. “You don't think-”

“Delta he's not going to give you an eye exam.”

A silence hung in the air between them for the briefest moment, and then both of the agents were laughing. Alpha crossed his arms, trying to keep the mirth contained, but looking at the way Delta was chuckling he just couldn't. They'd had such a rough week, hell, it had been a rough month, and it was nice to have a moment to sit and talk with his best friend. Delta in turn nudged his glasses further up his nose, scars spilling out from the frame over his left eye. The right eye on the other hand remained as green as ever, bright despite his recent grievous injury.

“What _do_ you think he wants?” Delta asked as his laughter died away, once again replaced with nervous tapping.

“I couldn't tell you, but the fact that he wants to talk to you so soon after the sarcophagus mission can't be a coincidence,” Alpha replied curtly. “It's got something to do with the heist we just pulled. I just don't know why he requested to speak to you specifically. I mean, don't get me wrong you're a super fuckin important member to the team, but it's not like we all didn't pull our weight out there.”

Delta narrowed his eye, looking up to the leader board that made up one of the walls in the waiting room. He had been moved back up alright, but Omega's sudden jump to number one had him nervous. And he knew Alpha was none to pleased to be demoted, even if he was still team leader. Omega didn't play nice with others it seemed. Delta cracked a rare smile. Last time they had interacted, near the hospital while Delta was checking on Eta, Omega had called him a 'ridiculous emerald buffoon'. He had to hand it to him, Omega was nothing if not creative.

“Don't fret agent Alpha, I'm sure your turn will come up soon enough,” Delta informed him politely. Alpha looked like he was about to reply when the door opened and The Counselor stepped into the room. Both agents looked up at him.

“Agent Delta? We're ready for you,” The Counselor started in his sonorous tone, waving his hand at the door.

Delta stood up, giving Alpha a curt nod before following the short black man from the room. He gave Alpha one last fleeting look before he left, and it did nothing to calm his nerves when he saw that the man in white looked just as nervous as he felt. The door shut behind them, and Alpha was gone.

“There's no need to worry agent Delta,” The Counselor was saying as they walked the short distance to the Director's interview room. “We just need to ask you a few short questions in preparation.”

“Preparation?” Delta repeated.

The Counselor just nodded.

This was not going like Delta had expected it would. They stepped into a new room, much smaller than the last. If memory served him well, which it usually did, this room was usually much dimmer than it was now. Instead it almost felt bright, and welcoming. The every present leader board was lacking, instead the space was occupied by a set of desks and a few hard plastic chairs. Delta made a beeline for the closest one before he was stopped.

“No need Agent Delta,” The Director waved him off from where he was sitting at one of the desks. The center one to be exact. The Director was nothing if not dramatic.

“Should I just, stand then?” Delta would not consider himself to be an awkward man, but he hesitated in the unfamiliar situation.

“That will be fine Agent Delta,” The Director agreed. Instead of taking one of the seats The Counselor came to stand behind The Director like a bird of prey watching over him. It was unnerving at best. The Director continued as if he weren't even there. “We have finally gotten the last components to go through with the experiment I have been working on, and we saw fit that you would be the first text subject if you felt so inclined Agent Delta.”

Delta blinked. Test subject? “Why have you picked me over Agents Omega or Alpha?”

“You are the first agent with a more,” The Director paused, searching for a way to describe Delta without offending his top agents. “rational disposition, which would make you the perfect candidate.”

Delta stood at attention, his mind racing. “What would this experiment entail?”

The Director gave him a smile that made the top agent shiver. “I'm so glad you asked Delta.”

 

~*~

  
“What's the matter pumpkin?” Eta asked cheerfully.

Theta looked at her, his eyes wide and full of hate. It had been a day since she got out of the hospital wing, and in that time literally all of the top agents had heard about his new 'nick name' and had gotten in on the act. Epsilon called him blueberry pie. Alpha called him pecan. Lemon meringue for Iota and Rhubarb for Gamma. Just when he thought he could find solace in Kappa, she did her best to hide that fact she knew his real name by calling him 'cherry' and shattering all faith he had left in his friends.

“You know what's the matter,” Theta hissed under his breath. He was normally a non confrontational person, but if one more of these douchebags called him a fruit he was going to bust a cap in someones ass. “You are what's the matter.”

Eta looked offended, and glanced around the training room. Epsilon was watching him from where he was pretending to lift weights, and Iota was stretching her sore ankle.

“Me?” Eta gasped.

“You call me pumpkin one more time...” Theta trailed off. Okay, he wasn't good at actively threatening his friends, but dammit if Eta didn't deserve it at this point. They were both still injured but that didn't mean he wouldn't fight her.

“But it's your name-” Eta started, and Theta set down the band he had been using to stretch his legs. Eta froze.

“One. More. Time,” Theta said, holding up a finger and hovering over her. He may be eighteen, but he was number five and the one of the largest people on the squad. It would be best for them to remember that.

Eta looked away from him to where her sister was staring with her eyes narrowed. Iota had proved just yesterday she was always willing to fight for Eta, but they were all so injured even a small quarrel like this could lead to some serious injuries.

“Hey hey hey,” To his surprise it was Epsilon who got up first, putting himself between the glaring freelancers. He was only a few inches shorter than Theta was, but the older man was looking up unflinching at Theta, his hands raised in a non threatening gesture. “Why don't we step outside and give these two a chance to cool off? It's been a stressful week I don't want any more of my friends hurt. Er, hurt worse.” He asked carefully.

Theta took a deep breath, and tried to shrug nonchalantly. In the end he just looked uncomfortable. “Yeah, sure.”

Epsilon grinned at him, and for the briefest moment Theta wanted to smile back, but then Epsilon was nudging him out of the training room and away from the sisters who were already talking loudly at each other about 'the nerve of these younger agents' before they had even gotten out of the door. Theta tried to shrug it off, but with how competitive the leader board was becoming and how stressed he was to stay in shape despite his injuries, well it was everything he had not to start shouting at Epsilon.

“Hey, I'm not really sure what that was, but trust me it would be much better for you to talk to me than take it out on either of the bash sisters,” Epsilon started as they walked down the hall. Theta wasn't sure where they were going, but it was almost pleasant to not have a destination.

“This last mission,” Theta shrugged, “Eta learned my real name, and I know she's just teasing me about it but it's starting to get hard to know who I can trust, I don't like her knowing it.”

Epsilon frowned. “She knows your real name? That's almost voodoo here, you're not supposed to tell anyone. But Theta I understand.”

Theta looked at him, and the way the older agent was nodding solemnly. He suddenly remembered the day when Delta got hurt, and Epsilon had suffered a panic attack. He had looked so small, out of his armor, but he had trusted Theta completely to stay with him. What choice did he have?

“I trust you,” Theta added in a small voice.

Epsilon gave a start. He looked at Theta, his blue eyes wide. The white haired agent looked Theta over, tentatively reaching up and touching the fresh bandages on Theta's neck. Theta was suddenly struck by how close he was, and before he could stop himself he glanced down at his friend's lips. Unlike when Sigma had gotten this close, Theta wanted nothing more than to lean down and-

“I mean, we're just a bunch of assholes trying to win a war that's been going on longer than either of us have been alive. Our jobs are crazy as shit, of course we should trust each other, we're gonna die if we don't” Epsilon was saying, pulling his hand away from Theta to continue walking. Theta stared after him for a moment, flushing red and putting a hand over his mouth. He had definitely not just thought about kissing his friend, because that would have been stupid, he wasn't even... okay well he was pretty sure it wouldn't have gone over well. Theta was finding it hard to pay attention to what Epsilon was saying, his mind was whirling too fast. “But I keep saying that and I still don't know if I could trust some of the agents here completely. There's few people I want to have my back in a fight as much as Sigma, but I don't want to eat at the same table as him, he gives me the creeps. Weird huh?”

There was a pause in the conversation as Epsilon looked expectantly up at Theta. “Not... weird?” Theta supplied, not really sure what he was agreeing to.

“I suppose so. But if you really want to know, I trust you too Theta,” Epsilon managed a small smile. “There's no one I'd want more to have my back _and_ to eat tacos with.”

Theta flushed again. Oh no, ohhhh no. “Th-thanks?”

“When we finish up this stupid war, and probably after a few years of therapy, we should hang out if we don't die. Sound good to you Blueberry?”

Theta didn't even care Epsilon just called him one of the stupid pie variations. He smiled back. “Sounds good.” 

 

 


	16. York Birth

It felt like waking up.

He opened his eyes to see the two large men staring down at him. His held felt foggy as he tried to remember how he had gotten in this huge room. When he realized that he couldn't remember that, he searched his mind for something. He couldn't recall anything except for waking up in this cold room.

One of the men turned to the side to give an order to someone he couldn't see. "Keep it in its case, and don't let it touch anything else."

The other man leaned over so he could see his green eyes. When he spoke, his southern drawl was quickly obvious. "Hello there. Do you know your name?"

He didn't want to think that hard. His name was too hard to remember and his head hurt. Instead, he stared at the southern man with the green eyes. "What the hell? Where am I?"

The man with the softer voice smiled at him. "Do not be alarmed. That is completely natural given your state."

That confused him even farther. "My state? What, am I hurt?"

The man with the soft voice frowned. "No. Do you feel as though you have been injured?"

The man with the southern accent glared at the other. "Counsellor, please." He turned away from the Counsellor. "Do not be concerned. You are fine. You're safe. Once again, do you know your name?"

He thought about it for a while. Eventually, a name popped into his head. "Yeah, my name is Delaware."

The Counsellor and the other man both shook their heads. The man with the southern accent's tone became harsh. "No, your name is not Delaware. You are mistaken."

He felt a twinge of shame as he glanced away from this man. He didn't want to disappoint him, for whatever reason. "I'm sorry. I'm just really confused. What's going on?"

The Counsellor jumped in, assuring him that he was alright. "Don't be concerned. This is perfectly normal given your state. Would you like to know your name?"

He looked up, suddenly curious. "Yeah, I want to know my name. I still feel really confused."

"Your name is New York. That is your name."

That didn't sound right. "York?" He questioned, the name feeling foreign on his tongue.

The Counsellor smiled. "Yes. You are very loyal, York. It is very nice to meet you."

The more they said it, the better his name felt. York nodded hesitantly as a feeling of déjà vu came over him. He squinted at the two men. "I think... I think I remember you."

They exchanged worried glances. The Counsellor sternly shook his head. "No, York. You have never met us before. You did not exist before today. Today is your birthday. Today is a great day."

"Do you know your name?" The southern accent was starting to grate on York's nerves.

He nodded. "I'm York."

"That is correct."

The Counsellor gestured to the man with the southern accent. "York, this is The Director. He is going to be taking good care of you."

"That's good, I guess. I'm still really confused." The feeling was starting to become overwhelming.

The Director smiled. "Don't worry York, that will not last long. And when you feel better, we are going to do incredible things together, you and I. Incredible things."

York glanced nervously between the two of them, not sure why he felt so uncomfortable.

~*~

Delta bounced his leg up and down, twisting the rubber band in his hands. Alpha sat next to him and had fallen silent long ago. The hard plastic chairs only added to the discomfort as they waited for The Director to call Delta back to surgery.

Everyone else was still in the training room. Delta and Alpha had been sparring when The Counsellor had walked up to them, announcing that it was time for Delta's implantation. The whole room had stopped to stare as the two of them walked out, wondering what Delta would be like when he came back.

Delta sucked in a breath to ask Alpha about the AI, but the door opening interrupted him. The Director stood in the doorway, wearing a pair of scrubs. "Agent Delta, it's time for you to go into surgery."

Delta stood up, glancing down at Alpha. His friend smiled at him, trying to seem encouraging. Delta followed The Director back into the room, clutching his helmet in his hands. Inside the room, a cot had been set up for him to lay on. Doctors bustled around, adjusting machines and fiddling with tools. Their helmets hid their faces from Delta's sight, which had never been more unsettling than it was now. Something about the thought of faceless people operating on him gave Delta chills.

He forced himself to lay down on the cot when he was prompted to do so. One of the doctors carefully pulled his glasses off and set them to the side. Delta gulped as the gravity was switched off, leaving him floating a few inches above the cot. Steady hands turned him onto his stomach and Delta was forced to stare at four pairs of pristine white shoes.

He tried to ignore the sound of a drill being switched on. The whirring noise only made him more tense as it got closer and closer. Suddenly, there was a pinch at the base of his neck and Delta's fingers twitched at the sharp pain. The drill soon left his skin, but Delta remained tense as he waited for the next step. He could feel a drop of blood roll down the side of his neck, but a nurse wiped it away before it fell. Or in this case, floated.

The surgeon had picked up the small chip. Delta watched out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help the twinge of curiosity he got while staring at the unexpectedly small AI. He briefly wondered how they had gotten it down to that size. Then, the lead surgeon reached down to his neck and easily clipped the AI in.

Delta gasped at the unexpected sensation. He could hear the doctors bustling around the room as they started to set up his anesthetic, but it was as if he were hearing them from underwater. The only thing Delta could concentrate was the small chip at the base of his neck that seemed to pulse with life. By the time the doctors had pulled a mask over Delta's head, he could faintly hear the wonderings of another voice. Then, he was asleep.

~*~

Later, Delta would try to recount the experience to Kappa, who was next in line for getting an AI. He told her about the slight pain, but even he couldn't come up with the words to explain the feeling of waking up to someone inside your head who wasn't there before.

He opened his eyes to find himself staring up at the tiles ceiling of the med bay. His vision refused to focus, until Delta realized that he wasn't wearing his glasses. He turned his head, ignoring the flash of pain that came from the base of his neck. Something prompted him to look on the bedside table for his glasses. It wasn't unto they were on Delta's face that he realized the thought hadn't come from him.

In his mind's eye Delta saw a figure appear. He was small, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. He was armored in tan armor, the same model that had been given to all of the freelancers.

"Hey there, sorry if I scared you," the AI said, seeming completely at ease with his surroundings.

A wave of nausea swept over Delta and he snapped his eyes shut to try and avoid the AI. Unfortunately, the image of the glowing figure stayed project onto the inside of his eyelids.

The AI frantically tried to help. "Whoa, whoa, take it easy! Just relax, this is totally normal. I think."

Delta scowled. "That does not invoke much confidence in me."

"Sorry, dude. I'm just trying to help."

That made Delta feel bad, so he opened his eyes and tried to ignore the urge to vomit. "I don't believe that we've been introduced. I'm Agent Delta, pleased to meet you."

The AI relaxed, his shoulders slumping slightly. "Hey, I'm York," he responded, his tone more comfortable now.

"York? That's an odd name." Delta tilted his head to the side, unable to help his curiosity.

York snorted, becoming more and more at ease as the seconds passed. "Says that guy who's named after a Greek letter."

Delta thought for a moment, then nodded. "That's a fair point. But you didn't explain why they named you that."

"It's after the Earth place. Ya know, the states in America? I'm named after New York," he explained.

That made sense. Though a strange choice, Delta did have to admit that the name had a certain charm to it.

York laughed, the sound strange to Delta's ears. "Thanks, D."

Delta tried to pretend that he wasn't bothered by York reading his thoughts. That was definitely an aspect that he hadn't considered being a problem. "My name is not very long, why do you feel the need to shorten it?"

"It suits you," York responded with a smile in his voice.

With a sigh, Delta shook his head. "Agent Alpha also calls me that. I don't see any sense in calling me anything other than my name."

York just shrugged in response. "Delta isn't your actual name either."

"There's a purpose for that name. And I would prefer it if you didn't dig around for my actual name," Delta told him before the AI decided to start poking around.

"Relax. I know what's okay and what's not," York nodded, "Hey, you have The Counsellor incoming on your right."

Delta turned his head to find exactly what York had said. The Counsellor was approaching them, his hands tucked behind his back. "Hello, Agent Delta. How are you feeling?" He asked once he was standing by Delta's bedside.

"I'm feeling fine," he answered before he could really think about the question. In reality, his head was pounding with a headache and his stomach still churned slightly.

The Counsellor smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'm glad to hear that, Delta. We didn't want to allow any visitors until we were sure that you were okay. Now, has your AI shown up yet?"

York appeared next to Delta in a flash of tan light. "Hey, Counsellor."

"Hello, York. It's nice to see you again. How are you feeling?" The Counsellor smiled again, a bit more genuine this time.

York actually considered the question before responding. Delta could feel him thinking, checking himself for flaws. He shivered as York ran a few diagnostic tests. "I'm alright, I think. It feels strange to have a host, but I think that I could get used to it."

The Counsellor nodded and tapped something out on his data pad. "That's good. I'll leave you two alone, but you should know that there are some agents here to see you, Delta."


End file.
